From the Other Side
by Curious Kitsune654
Summary: When her fight with Atlas is interrupted by Luke using the power of Kronos, Artemis, goddess of the hunt and moon finds herself in the apartment of a familiar whiskered blonde. Low on power, badly hurt, and possibly being hunted, the huntress decides to hide inside the most unlikeliest of places, Naruto's soul. Only one problem, she isn't alone in there. Pairing undecided
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like No one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 1-

*CLANG!* *CRASH!* *KRAKA-BOOM!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*

Atop a blackened mountain, several figures could be seen locked in combat as a massive dark fortress seemed to be slowly building itself around them. A young girl with pitch black hair, wearing punk clothes, and wielding a spear and shield fought against an older teen boy with sandy blonde hair with an odd dual-colored sword.

Another girl with similar black hair, a silvery hunting outfit, and a silver circlet on her brow was crouched next to an injured and bound blonde girl, shooting an expertly made silver lined hunting bow towards our main focus.

A seemingly young girl with auburn hair, silver eyes, and lightly tanned skin littered with cuts that oozed golden blood struggled to support two silver hunting blades as they blocked a massive bronze javelin. Said javelin was wielded by a tall, excessively muscular man wearing golden Greek armor with an arrogant smirk.

These were Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, chastity, and the moon and Atlas, the titan of strength and endurance respectively.

"Do you now see the futility of your actions now little goddess?" Atlas asked in a mocking tone as he slapped away an arrow that got close to his head and began to slowly apply more pressure. Artemis didn't verbally respond, instead she broke the blade lock and used the momentum to slip past his guard and slash at his back, withholding a groan as her weapons barely cut into his armor. "Soon you and your little companions shall be nothing more than a memory, a really bloody memory!"

He emphasized this with a grazing blow of his spear, making a long shallow cut along Artemis's arm. ' _Damn it, I don't have enough time! I doubt Poseidon's son can hold the sky for much longer.'_ Artemis thought, briefly glancing behind the titan to see a boy with spiky black hair and seafoam green eyes as he struggled to literally hold the sky in the air.

She knew that it was only a matter of minutes before the weight became too much for him and he was crushed. The goddess of the hunt was snapped out of her thoughts as she instinctually dodged out of the way of a jab that would have skewered her torso. "Ah, ah, ah, don't you know better than to get distracted during a fight. But of course, what would a pathetic woman know of real fighting anyway, hmmm?"

…

"Oh my, did I hurt your feelings? Ahhhhh, are you gonna cry to daddy now?" Atlas said in a mocking sad tone as he smirked at the suddenly immobile goddess.

…

*Snap!*

Faster than the mighty titan could even blink, Artemis was right in front of his face with her now brightly glowing blades lodged deep into his shoulders, her face set into one of cold fury as she then proceeded to slash and hack at every bit of exposed flesh she could reach.

"GAAHHH! Damn bitch! Get the fuck off me!" Atlas screamed as he tried to pry the pissed goddess off his face only for his hands to get repelled with wild stabs and slashes whenever they got near. Finally having enough, he changed tactics and barreled straight through several walls and then body slamming head first into the floor, creating a moderately sized crater.

Slowly getting back to his feet with a sneer as the wounds across his face swiftly healed shut, the 'General' raised his weapon high to strike at the dazed goddess. "Enjoy the taste of oblivion you little bi-GAHH!" Atlas was cut off as a single silver arrow lodged itself into one of the still healing wounds on his hand, causing him to lose his grip on the javelin as it fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Grrr… I was going to save you for last my traitorous offspring," He growled out as he slowly turned towards the bow-wielding girl with a snarl. 'But now I'm gonna rip you limb from lim- AAAAHG GAIA DAMN IT!" He howled as Artemis lodged her blades deep into his back.

Caught by surprise, he was unable to resist in time as she shoved him towards the struggling boy. Realizing what she was doing, the titan's power flared as he tried to stop himself before it was too late. Having none of this, Artemis funneled her energy into her arms and pushed.

"Lady Artemis!" "Look out!"

Head snapping in the direction of the two shouts, the goddess was just in time to see the blonde boy just a few feet away with his odd sword descending towards her head with a sickly yellow glow. Pulling one of her knives free, she raised it up just in time to block the blade a mere inch from her head.

"You shall not stop us! Olympus shall fall!" The boy yelled as the glow around his sword brightened dramatically. Artemis's eyes widened dramatically as she got a good feel of the energy that the blade was giving off. ' _K-Kronos!'_

Knowing how dangerous her grandfather's power could be, the goddess was about to pull her blade back when a bright light suddenly blinded everyone in the vicinity.

When the light cleared, Atlas was lying face first in the ground with the sky on his back, the boy that was just in his place not too far away gasping desperately for breath, and the blonde boy stood with his blade embedded into the ground.

…Artemis was nowhere to be found.

-Meanwhile-

"Today sucked," A short boy with spiky blonde hair, sapphire blue eyes, tanned skin, and three whisker-like markings on each cheek groaned as he marched into a small apartment. Slamming the door shut behind him, he shuffled across the room and flopped into a small recliner with a tired sigh.

This was Naruto Uzumaki, twelve-year-old orphan, prankster king from hell, self-declared future Hokage… and current failure of the ninja academy. For the second time now, he had failed the final test because he still couldn't preform a Bunshin no Jutsu, the most basic of clone techniques.

"Stupid jutsu, why doesn't it ever work for me?" He wondered aloud. No matter how much he practiced, no matter how long he trained, that jutsu would always turn out a flop whenever he attempted the technique. The best he had ever gotten was a single dead looking clone that would collapse immediately after forming.

The worst part for him was how all the other students would laugh like crazy each time he failed, mocking and teasing him while he just stood there with a fake smile, declaring he would prove that he would be the best. He loved the attention, hell he practically lived for it… but just once he wanted someone to pay attention because they were proud of him.

' _Well, there's always tomorrow.'_ Naruto thought with a smile as he stood back up. His apartment was small, only consisting of a living room with attached kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom. It never bothered him though, it was his home and he was happy with the way it was. Right now, he was shuffling around the kitchenette, looking around for his favorite comfort food.

Opening the cupboard, his smile turned to a frown as he saw only a single package of instant ramen sitting all by it's lonesome. *Groan* "Great, have to go shopping later," Naruto grumbled as he grabbed the solitary package and set it on the counter as he got to work boiling some water.

Five minutes later, he was back in his recliner with a steaming cup of ramen in hand and a rare relaxed expression on his face as he watched a cheesy action movie on his small TV. Gently blowing on the ramen to cool it down, Naruto used a pair of disposable chopsticks to raise the noodly goodness to mouth.

Just as he was about to take his first bite though, he was blinded by a sudden flash of yellow and silver light as a sudden weight fell onto his lap. When his vision cleared, he found himself looking straight into the silver eyes of a visibly stunned unknown girl as she straddled his lap.

' _Pretty…'_ Was the last thing he thought before he felt a sudden jolt of pain in his neck and everything went black.

Artemis looked down at the unconscious boy beneath her, she had knocked him out purely by reflex, but not before she had seen the surprise and confusion in his eyes as he looked at her. He had clearly not known who she is, so was likely not an enemy.

That being said…

"Where in Tartarus am I?" She wondered as she looked around the small apartment with confusion. Attempting to focus her power into her senses, Artemis suddenly collapsed due to her exhaustion having caught up with her. Re-lifting herself off the blonde beneath her, the goddess's equivalent of adrenaline finally wore off and she felt her numerous injuries ache.

Her breathing became uneven, her vision started blurring, and her entire body trembled violently as realization finally hit her. She was almost completely out of energy, only having enough to barely keep herself conscious. With this came the harsh truth, she was entirely defenseless, badly injured, and in an entirely unknown area.

' _I need to get somewhere safe to regain my strength before making my way back to Olympus.'_ She thought as she tried to climb off the boy only to collapse again. ' _Yeah, how in Tartarus am I supposed to do that when I can barely move?'_ Artemis knew she didn't have the time to waste, it probably wouldn't be long before Kronos's followers sent someone or something to hunt her down while she was weakened.

' _Think Artemis think,'_ She said to herself as she took a deep breath. ' _You're wounded, exhausted, and probably being hunted… huh, so this is what my prey feel like, Gah! Focus! I need somewhere to hide, somewhere to rest, somewhere nobody would… think to… look."_ Her thoughts ground to a halt as she looked down at the boy she landed on, an idea slowly forcing itself to the front of her mind.

As a goddess, she had many abilities, most of which were linked to her respective domains. However, there was one that all gods she knew of could, but almost never did, use. ' _Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess…'_ She thought with a sigh while leaning down until she was face to face with the unconscious child.

"You should be honored, as you will be allowed a privilege that no man has ever had." She told him despite knowing he couldn't hear, before doing something that would make every one of her hunters have a heart attack.

She kissed him.

The moment their lips connected however, her entire body glowed a bright silver and dispersed into particles that soaked into the boy's body. The only proof she was ever there being a few drops of golden Ichor.

-End Chapter-

AN: New story up and going. Love it? Hate it? Thank you for reading and please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the other side

-Chapter 2-

Inside what appeared to be a dimly lit sewer tunnel, a swarm of silver particles collected until they formed the familiar childlike shape of the goddess of the hunt. Panting in exhaustion, Artemis slowly took in her new surroundings.

"Rather grungy for a child's soul," She commented with mild concern before slowly stumbling to the side of the tunnel and sitting down against the brick wall with a tired sigh, glad that the water her legs were submerged in appeared to be mostly clean. Focusing the absolute last of her strength, a light blue translucent aura formed in the air and started sinking into her body as she began gently siphoning the ambient energy all around into herself.

Nifty fact: All living things had a soul, and that soul was practically a bundle of pure energy condensed into one spot. If one knew how and had the means to do so, they could harness this power in a variety of ways. In this case, Artemis was cautiously draining a small amount of this energy at a continuous rate from the boy to restore her own power as she rested. This was why other gods and goddesses never used this ability as they found the idea of needing a mere mortal's power insulting and/or blasphemous.

Imagine her surprise though when she was met with the veritable sea of energy emanating from the boy. ' _Just my luck… a demigod,'_ She thought, that was the only explanation she could think of for how a mere child had so much raw power overflowing from him. What was odd however was she couldn't tell whose child he was, something she could do almost instinctually due to her being the goddess of the hunt, but simply chalked it up to her present state of fatigue.

Deeming it not important for the time being, Artemis finally allowed her eyes to close as she fell asleep for the first time in three hundred years.

Because of that, she missed both the aura around her gaining slight flecks of reddish-purple and how a series of black lines started forming on the walls, pulsing with a vibrant blue light.

-Elsewhere in the Sewer/Soulscape-

The lines kept forming until they reached an unimaginably massive gateway. It was at least four stories tall and half as wide, and on the middle bars where the gate would open was a single piece of paper with the kanji for 'seal' written on it.

Transitioning to the floor, the lines shot toward these bars and rapidly curled up until they reached the paper. When they made contact, the paper started glowing the same color before it gave off a sudden burst of light.

When it cleared, it revealed a beautiful woman with vibrant red hair that reached her waist, violet eyes, and wearing a green dress with white collar and short sleeves. She looked around the area in apparent confusion until they settled on the glowing lines. In less than a second, her confusion turned to rage, her hair rising into the air in nine waving bunches as massive golden chains emerged from her back and shot down the tunnel the lines originated from.

-Back with Artemis-

The goddess of the moon was awoken from her slumber as several golden chains suddenly wrapped themselves around her. Surprised, Artemis had no chance to try and break free before she was repeatedly bashed into the floor and walls until she lost consciousness again.

-Unknown Amount of Time Later-

Artemis's eyes slowly flickered open as she sat up with a groan. Sitting up from the shallow water she was laying in, she winced from a strong jolt of pain that shot through her skull. On reflex, she started to reach up with one hand to rub her head…

*Clatter*

…only to freeze as she saw the golden metal chain now bound to her wrist.

' _What in Tartarus!?'_ She mentally shouted as she looked herself over and found similar bindings on her other wrist, both her ankles, her waist, and around her neck. Following the chains with her eyes, she was just in time to see a red-headed woman as she finished wrapping the ends of the chains around the bars of a massive gate in an extremely complex pattern. When she finished, the chains gained a slight blue and red aura before returning to normal.

Turning around, the redhead's violet eyes locked with hers before a vicious grin crossed her lips. "Well, well, look who's finally awake." She said in a mocking tone as she slowly approached the restrained goddess while loudly cracking her knuckles. "Now little miss…" She grabbed Artemis by the collar and hoisted her to eye level. "…while I'd love nothing more than to pummel you until you answer my questions, such as what the hell you're doing inside my son's mind, I don't have that kind of time."

As if to prove her point, her body began flickering out of existence for a few moments before stabilizing. "But given how you were sucking up Naru-chan's chakra like a leech, I can guess you aren't here for good reasons." Artemis tried to speak but was unable to as the woman's grip tightened drastically around her neck. "Not only that, thanks to you I won't ever be able to see my baby boy once he's older. And that really pisses me off-Ttebane!"

All Artemis could do was choke out incoherent noises as she grasped desperately at her throat, her face beginning to pale. "But given that I can't kill you, and trust me I tried many times while you were out cold, I did the next best thing." The red-head explained as her form started flickering at a much more rapid pace. "I hope you like it here, cause you're going to be staying for a long, LONG time."

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman faded away completely allowing Artemis to fall back to the ground with a splash. For several minutes, all she could do was lay there with her hands at her throat as she desperately gasped for breath. When she finally did recover, the goddess slowly stood up on slightly shaky legs as her restraints jingled loudly.

Looking down at said restraints, a look of anger crossed her face as she scoffed. "I may be weakened, but did that woman really think mere chains would hold a goddess?" She asked rhetorically as she started to pull at the chains with her godly stren-

*ZZZZZZT* "GYYAAAAAH!"

She collapsed back to the ground in agony as the arrangement of chains lit up like a Christmas tree with red and blue electricity coursed up the bindings and into her body. Artemis writhed around in the water as the volts kept flooding through her for several seconds before tapering out. This left her on the ground gasping… again.

" **I guess those 'Mere Chains' are more problematic than you thought huh,** _ **goddess**_ **.** " A booming voice called out, saying goddess in a mocking tone. Turning her head towards the source, the goddess of the hunt's eyes widened dramatically as she saw the massive creature on the other side of the bars.

It was a giant fox with blood red fur, equally red slit-pupiled eyes, black markings around its eyes and mouth, and nine long tails. A deep growl emanated from its throat, causing the whole sewer to shake. The whole thing would have been more intimidating though if nearly every inch of the fox wasn't restrained by chains many times larger than the ones on her. The body was held to the floor while it's tails were pinned to the walls of the cage.

"What… what are you?" Artemis asked in mild fright as she scurried away from the cage. She could feel the raw power rolling off it and it was comparable to the mighty Typhon himself.

" **Me? I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of the Biju and pure hate incarnate. That is all you need to know ningen.** " It said blandly before seemingly going to sleep. Seeing as she probably wasn't going to get anything other than that, Artemis decided not to press her luck and chose to focus on gathering her strength instead.

Placing herself as far as possible from the Kyuubi, she found a small, raised platform that stuck out of the shin high water that she laid down on. Examining her restraints, she noticed as a trace amount of the red energy was seeping from them into herself. While this was giving her strength, she also felt a similar amount of her own power being drained from herself and released into the surrounding area, represented by a soft silver glow.

Sighing in frustration, Artemis attempted to get as comfortable as she could on the slab of stone with the metallic bindings on her. Setting her head down, she drifted back into an uneasy slumber.

-Morning, Naruto's apartment-

Naruto woke up with a yawn, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he sat up in his recliner with mild confusion. "Huh, what am I doing out here?" He wondered aloud, rubbing the sleep out of one eye as he looked around his living room before spotting the still turned on television as it played static. "Oh, must have dozed off."

With that mystery solved, he stood and stretched the kinks out of his muscles before throwing away the now inedible cup of ramen with a sad look. Looking up at the clock hanging on the wall, he found it to be 8:27 in the morning. ' _Well, time for a shower, then shopping.'_ He thought with a grimace. ' _At least I don't have to worry about school for a few weeks.'_

* **Yawn*** _ **'What is all this racket?'**_

 __Naruto yelped as he heard the unfamiliar voice ring though his head. "Who said that!?" He demanded as his eyes darted all over the room.

' _ **Ugh! Stop with that yelling boy, I already have a headache as it is.'**_ The voice said in an irritated tone.

"Hey! Don't tell me what to do!" Naruto yelled as he continued to search all over the place for the source of the voice. "Who are you? Where are you? What are you doing in my home?" He demanded.

' _ **You can stop looking, you won't find me anywhere boy. And I said stop yelling!'**_ The voice yelled back, making Naruto cringe as the sound echoed through his skull.

"Fine, but at least answer my questions. And stop calling me boy, my names Naruto Uzumaki and you better remember it-Ttebayo."

-Mindscape-

Artemis's eyebrow twitched as she saw everything Naruto saw thanks to a large hologram-like screen floating in front of her. ' _So that woman really was his mother,'_ She thought as her hand reflexively went to her still bruised throat.

-Reality-

' _ **Alright then**_ **boy,'** Naruto grit his teeth, ' _ **My name is Artemis. As for where I am, here's a hint, I know exactly what you're thinking.'**_

"What I'm thinking? But that impossible unless you were in my head… … …wait a minute" Naruto's eye's widened as it hit him. "You're in my head?!"

' _ **Exactly,'**_ The now named Artemis stated bluntly.

 __"Why are you in my head?! Get out!" Naruto yelled while gripping his head.

' _ **Trust me, I would love to do exactly that but I can't.'**_

 _ **"**_ Why not!?"

' _ **What did I just tell you about yelling.'**_ Naruto's jaw snapped shut just as he was about to yell again when he heard the dangerous tone in Artemis's voice. ' _ **Also think when you're talking to me, otherwise others are going to think you're going crazy.'**_

 __ _'Well last I checked, hearing voices inside your head was a pretty sure sign of someone going crazy.'_ Naruto thought back in a snarky tone.

 _ **'…Touché, but still, I highly doubt you 'want' people noticing so. Not unless you want a one-way venture to an insane asylum.'**_ Artemis said, causing Naruto to grumble in reluctant agreement.

' _Alright, you do have a point there… Great, I'm agreeing with the voice in my head.'_ Naruto groaned as he collapsed back into his chair. ' _Congratulations Naruto, you have officially gone crazy.'_

 **-** End Chapter-

AN: Now before anyone complains, saying things like Artemis could have beaten Kushina even if weakened or something like that, I did do the math. First, I compared Kurama with Typhoon, both whom are described as walking natural disasters capable of mass destruction. Both have similar accomplishments, capable of destroying entire landscapes with ease and nigh unstoppable by conventional means. With that said, it took all twelve Olympians to restrain Typhoon after he escaped his imprisonment in The Last Olympian. On the other hand, Kushina was able to completely restrain a full powered Kyuubi mere minutes after both giving birth AND having said fox extracted from her, which I might remind you would normally KILL someone instantly. Thank you for reading and please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave. Thank you and please enjoy.

From the Other Side

-Chapter 3-

-Last Time-

 _ **'What did I just tell you about yelling.**_ _' Naruto's jaw snapped shut just as he was about to yell again when he heard the dangerous tone in Artemis's voice._ _ **'Also think when you're talking to me, otherwise others are going to think you're going crazy**_ _.'_

 _'Well last I checked, hearing voices inside your head was a pretty sure sign of someone going crazy.' Naruto thought back in a snarky tone._

 _'…_ _ **Touché, but still, I highly doubt you 'want' people noticing so. Not unless you want a one-way venture to an insane asylum**_ _.' Artemis said, causing Naruto to grumble in reluctant agreement._

 _'Alright, you do have a point there… Great, I'm agreeing with the voice in my head.' Naruto groaned as he collapsed back into his chair. 'Congratulations Naruto, you have officially gone crazy.'_

-And Now. One Year Later-

*Beep, Beep, Beep, Be-* *Click*

A lightly tanned arm shot out from under a bundle of blankets and smacked the beeping alarm clock. A soft groan replaced the irritating noise as Naruto's head partially emerged from the mess with half-lidded eyes to glare at the glowing numbers on the clock. He stared at it for a full minute before collapsing back onto his bed. "Uhhhg, five more minutes."

" _ **Don't bother trying Naruto, you need to be on time for the finals today."**_ Artemis's voice called within his mind making Naruto groan again. " _ **Now get up!"**_

"Alright, alright, I'm up Arty-neechan," Naruto grumbled as he finally climbed out of bed. With the blankets no longer covering him and the fact he was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, you could now see a few differences in his appearance. He was about an inch or so taller, his cheeks were a little less chubby, and his musculature was more toned and slimmer looking.

However, the most noticeable changes would be to his hair and eyes. The former was from the streaks of auburn cropping out here and there, and the latter due to the multitude of silvery flecks now in them, giving his eyes a literal sparkle effect when in direct light.

Stretching his arms with a yawn, Naruto slowly stumbled out of his room and into his living room where he was greeted with the sight of a fair skinned, black haired, black eyed (Color not bruise) woman wearing a blueish-black kimono with white trim reading a small scroll. She was sitting on one side of a new looking loveseat sat in front of television along with an equally new coffee table that had two plates of food sat on it.

Upon seeing her, Naruto instantly perked up before quickly rushing over and hugging the woman tightly around the waist. "Morning Shizune-neechan!" He said excitedly as the now named Shizune looked down at him with a smile while she rolled up her scroll and returned the affection.

"Morning Naruto, how are you and your… roommate doing today?" She asked somewhat hesitantly after they separated while pointing towards her own head.

As soon as the words left her lips, Naruto's eye color suddenly shifted, changing to almost pure silver with flecks of blue. "I do have a name Shizune, I'd appreciate if you'd use it." Artemis's soft but strong voice came out of Naruto's mouth.

"Sorry Artemis, still getting used to all of this." Yep, she knew about Naruto's other soul roomie. How? You may ask. Well that would be for the same reason she's in Konoha and not wandering around the Elemental Nations with Tsunade 'The Legendary Sucker' Senju.

You see, it turns out housing the goddess of the Moon inside your soul while some of her power is gradually being dispersed into your body has a few side effects. The hair and eyes were again the most obvious of them, but there were more less obvious but problematic issues. His muscle development was becoming more lean and compact thus giving him a _SLIGHTLY_ feminine figure, and it was now a bit harder for Naruto to read as the kanji in books or scrolls would seem to become slight distorted for him.

The most prominent issue though was how the blond-redhead (Auburn is a reddish brown) now felt completely restless and energetic at night, making it impossible for him to sleep no matter how hard he tried. It got so bad that it was only a matter of time that it drew attention, specifically from Naruto's favorite teacher Iruka.

-Ten Months Ago, Shinobi(Ninja) Academy-

Iruka was a young man with darkly tanned skin, brown hair, and a long horizontal scar going across his nose. He was also a very dedicated teacher who cared deeply for the wellbeing of his students, expecially given the profession they were training for. It was because of this that he didn't tolerate slacking off of goofing around from his students while they were in his class.

So when he saw the trouble student, class clown, and resident prankster of his class Naruto with his face planted firmly against his desk while softly snoring during his lessons, AGAIN! he was understandably a bit upset. With a vein bulging on his forehead, he marched across the classroom while ignoring his other students' whispering and snickering at the blonds soon to be misfortune.

When he got to Naruto's desk, he slammed his fist onto the boy's desk making him shoot back up with a start. "NARUTO! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO SLEEP IN CLASS?! YOU NEED TO TAKE… this… seriously…" Iruka started his scolding strong but trailed off near the end as he got a good look at Naruto's face.

Dark bags sat under his eyes, his face was pale, and overall looked ready to pass out again any second. "Sorry Iruka-sensei… I'm just having… some trouble… getting enough…" *Thump* Just like that.

-Present-

At first Iruka had thought Naruto had just been overworking himself and had told him off later for doing so at the nurse's office, despite the blond claiming otherwise. It wasn't until a few days after that incident that he started to believe his student when he saw Naruto not only still sluggish and exhausted in class but stopped pretty much everything he usually did. No pranks, no ditching class, no hanging out with Kiba, Shikamaru, or Choji, his seemingly endless amounts of energy he was known for just seemed to be gone. The final nail in the coffin was when he missed going to Ichiraku's when they had a COMPLETLEY FREE RAMEN EATING CONTEST!

After that, Iruka wasted no time bringing the matter to the Hokage (Fire Shadow), Hiruzen, the leader of Konohagakure (Village Hidden in the Leaves), and Naruto's grandfather figure. Not even an hour later and Naruto found himself in a hospital room as several tests were being done on him to figure out what was wrong. They even had some weird guy with long white hair and red marks on his face examine his stomach for several minutes while he channeled chakra for some reason.

After several days of exams, questions, and observation, not only had they not been able to figure out what was wrong, but that is when they started noticing all the other little changes he'd been going through. With the case only getting more complex as time passed, and in his worry for his surrogate grandson's health, Hiruzen called the one person who could possible find out the problem to come back to the village, one Tsunade Senju, also known as the world's best medical nin.

The big problem with that, Tsunade hated Konoha since her brother and lover both died while serving the village as shinobi. After their deaths, she had left with her lover's niece Shizune while vowing never to set foot in the place again. However, Hiruzen wasn't known as 'The Professor' for nothing and had quickly found a way to force her back, by striking her where it hurts the most for gamblers.

-Eight and a half Months Ago, Hokage's Office-

Hiruzen sat calmly in his office smoking a pipe, dressed in the official Hokage attire with a relaxed expression on his wrinkled face as he stared expectantly at the door. He didn't even flinch when said door suddenly exploded into pieces of wooden shrapnel that went flying, embedding themselves several inches into the walls, floor, ceiling, and furniture while somehow completely missing him.

Standing where the poor innocent carved chunk of oak used to be was a tall blonde woman with sharp brown eyes locked in a glare, pale skin, a diamond tattoo on her forehead, and a ridiculously large bust ("Bow Chicka Bow Wow!" Goddammit Tucker, this is the wrong story! "Dude, as long as there are hot ladies around, I'm always in the right story." *Facepalm*). She wore a short grey kimono with blue edging, short blue pants, and a long green jacket with the kanji for gamble inside a red circle on the back. Standing behind her with a nervous and apologetic expression was none other than Shizune still wearing the same outfit, only now holding a small pig in her arms.

"HIRUZEN!" The woman yelled as she literally stomped into the office with the force of an elephant, shaking the whole building and leaving spider-web cracks under each foot. "Why the hell did you freeze up my bank accounts and force me to come back here!?" She demanded, slamming her hands so hard against his desk that if it wasn't for the reinforcement seals on it the whole thing would have been turned to splinters.

"I promise it is important," Hiruzen said in a calm even tone, not once faltering under the wrath of his old student. "There is an odd medical case that needs your expertise to figure ou-"

"No!" Tsunade cut him off, "There is no way I am helping this Kami forsaken village after all that it has taken from me!"

Hiruzen sighed at that while rubbing his forehead in annoyance. "Tsunade, it has been almost thirty years since Dan and Nawaki's deaths, you need to-"

He was cut off once again, this time from a fist heading towards his face. "Don't you dare say their-GAH!" Tsunade had started to yell again, only for her to be cut off this time when Hiruzen stopped the punch cold by catching her wrist. Then, with blinding speed, the seemingly harmless old man struck her several times in the torso with hyuga-like precision and speed using his free hand. Stunned and gasping for breath, the blonde woman was left completely defenseless to the chop against her forehead that sent her stumbling back until she fell into a chair that appeared behind her in a puff of smoke.

"Shut up. Stay seated. Listen." Hiruzen said sternly once she recovered, fixing Tsunade with a fierce glare and wave of KI (Killing Intent) that froze her in place. "As I was saying, it has been nearly thirty years since their deaths. You've had more than enough time to mourn and move on, yet instead you are insistent on spitting on their memory with your self-destructive lifestyle. Don't even bother denying it, you know that is exactly what you're doing." He said, his glare hardening even further when his student tried to argue back.

"I was planning on just having you do this case and then be on your way, but your reaction at even mentioning it as changed that." It was true, all he wanted was her to find out what was wrong with Naruto and then she could leave. However, looking at his former student sitting before him, the old man decided it was finally time to put his foot down on another matter while she was here.

"From now on, you are considered an active Kunoichi and your Sennin Travel Rights are hereby revoked. You will also be required to go see a therapist on a regularity of at least once every two weeks. If you try to leave for anything other than an authorized mission, I will not only have the Senju accounts liquidated and the money dispersed to the various clans of the village, but also have you marked as a missing-nin."

"WHAT?! You can't do that!" Tsunade screamed in horror as she stood up from her seat, only to get nailed right on her tattoo with a paperweight that knocked her right back down.

"I am the Hokage, my word is law." Hiruzen stated bluntly, making the woman growl angrily and grit her teeth but she didn't move from her seat. "Now onto the case you so quickly rejected," Opening one of the drawers of his desk, the old man pulled out a manila envelope that he then tossed over to still pissed woman.

Tsunade caught it by reflex, holding it in the air for a few seconds before reluctantly bringing it closer and opening it. Pulling out the small stack of paper inside, she quickly glanced over the contents of the first page before her eyebrow started twitching. "An insomnia case? All of this over a fucking kid having trouble sleeping?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"At first glance that is what it would seem yes," Hiruzen said, "But I'd suggest you keep reading before allowing that temper of yours to get any hotter." Knowing there was no point in arguing at this point, Tsunade simply grumbled loudly while flipping the page.

Her griping continued for a whole of ten seconds after that before slowly tapering off as her eyes darted over the piece of processed wood. By the time she was finished with the third page, her anger had seemingly completely dissipated as she became completely focused on what was written with a raised brow while waving her apprentice over.

' _An Uzumaki, go figure they always have the weird conditions, better yet a jinchuricki. A foreign silver colored chakra presence not from the Kyuubi, which according to the pervert is under even heavier lockdown than it used to be somehow. Shifting body tone, changing eye and hair color, and unusual brain activity.'_ "…Okay, I'll admit, I'm interested."

-Present-

After being effectively coerced into staying, Tsunade spent a day going over the various notes and test results before actually meeting with Naruto and doing some tests herself. Unfortunately, since she was still in a VERY bad mood from being forced to stay, she ended up making a snarky comment about the Hokage position while in the boy's presence. Given how Naruto aspired to be in said position, this went about as well as you could imagine.

-Eight and a half months ago, Hospital-

It was the middle of the night and Tsunade was standing over Naruto's bed with a clipboard, writing down some notes from the results of a jutsu she'd just used to scan the activity and chakra flow to his brain. "The Hokage position is a fool's job, for those looking for an early grave." The busty blonde said pessimistically after hearing the boy talk about how he would become the leader of the village.

"Take that back you stupid hag!" Naruto shouted, looking and feeling a lot better now that he'd been able to get some sleep during the day.

Looking down at him with a smug smirk, Tsunade leaned forward until she was face to face with the boy and said two words. "Make me."

…

"Damn it, where the hell is room 315 again?" Shizune asked herself as she wandered through the hospital with a large cup of coffee in hand. She'd been sent to fetch one by Tsunade and had ended up getting turned around in the large building.

After several more minutes of searching, she finally gave up and stopped a nearby nurse to ask for directions. "Oh, you want that boy's room?" The nurse, and elderly woman with fair skin but greying brown hair, asked with a disgusted expression, like she just heard or saw something disgusting. "Down that hall, take a left, fifth door to the left." She said quickly before hurrying away.

Having been informed of her teacher's patient's other condition, Shizune had a good idea behind why the woman acted like that and had to restrain the urge to punch her. Instead she just followed the directions she was given and soon arrived at the room she wanted.

Upon entering though, the cup in Shizune's grip slipped free and fell to the floor with a small crash as the raven-haired woman stared at the scene before her in shock.

"AAAGH! GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU LITTLE FUCKING BASTARD!" Tsunade screamed, attempting to pry Naruto off of her chest while the boy gave her a double purple nurple.

After that day, when the Anbu and medical staff who witnessed this told others of what happened, Naruto was unanimously declared the bravest person in all of Konoha.

-Present-

Once she managed to separate the two, and prevent Tsunade from turning her patient into a bloody smear, Shizune introduced herself and managed to hit it off rather well with the energetic blonde. Naruto liking how Shizune was caring but also understanding, allowing him to get up and stretch his legs when he was feeling restless or simplifying things that he had trouble understanding. Meanwhile Shizune liked Naruto for his blunt honesty and straight forward attitude. Naturally, it wasn't long until Naruto saw the kind woman as the sister he always wanted.

Since then, she ended up acting as the mediator between him and Tsunade whenever they were in the same room. Whenever she left them alone, the two were at each-other's throats within minutes.

In the meantime, Tsunade was able to figure out what was wrong with his sleeping issue after a few weeks… along with other things.

-Six and a Half Months Ago, Hokage's Office-

"A second being also sealed inside of Naruto?" Hiruzen asked Tsunade as he looked up from the report on his desk.

"It makes the most sense, there is no other way that foreign chakra would still be circulating in his chakra system otherwise." Tsunade said, "I even had the gaki completely isolated from anyone but myself and Shizune for an entire week just to make sure nobody was injecting the stuff into him manually." While she spoke, the blonde pulled out a specific sheet from the report for the Hokage to see. "Not only did it remain consistent, the amount circulating has actually been increasing, roughly by an estimate of 0.05% every three weeks."

Hiruzen's brow furrowed at this as he read over the data. "Is there any way to get rid of it or stop it from getting worse?" He asked, only to sigh when Tsunade shook her head.

"Not unless you want to seal off his entire chakra network," Tsunade said sarcastically, "Besides at this point it's doing him more good than bad."

"How in Kami's name is making him unable to sleep good?" Hiruzen demanded sternly.

"Correction, he is unable to sleep… at night." Tsunade said with a smirk, making her sensei blink in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

Tsunade's grin widened at his baffled response, it wasn't every day one surprised the Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi). "You heard me, he can't sleep at night. This silver chakra has altered the brains neural and hormonal activity for sleeping, effectively making him nocturnal." She explained. "It's actually a rather easy fix, just have to prescribe him a few meds for sleep."

Hiruzen continued to stare at her blankly for several seconds before finally responding with a tired sigh. "I'm getting to old for this shit… what do we do next then?"

At this point, Tsunade finally lost her smug look, being replaced with a frown. "Next, we find the best Yamanaka you have and have them do something really stupid."

"You honestly don't mean…"

"That's exactly what I mean."

-Few Hours Later, Hospital-

"Just for the record, this is by far the stupidest thing you have ever asked me to do." One Inoichi Yamanaka, head of the Yamanaka clan, said as he stood inside a hospital room with Tsunade, Hiruzen, Jiraiya (White haired man with red lines on face), and a very heavily sedated Naruto. "You want me to send someone into a Jinchuricki's mind? Into the Kyuubi Jinchuricki's mind?"

"Not just someone, me." Tsunade said, "We need to find the source of that unknown chakra and the only way we're going to be able to that is from within the gaki's mind where the spiritual half of the seal resides. Or at least that's what the pervert says." She finished while jabbing her thumb at Jiraiya.

"Oi, I told you I'm not a pervert! I'm a super perv-" *CRACK!* *CRASH!*

"Whatever you say, I just want it to be known that I think this is a very bad idea." The blonde man said, ignoring the twitching man in the wall while going through a quick string of hand-seals and placing a hand on Tsunade and Naruto's shoulders. "Maindobodīkoiru tensō no Jutsu (Mind Body Coil Transfer technique)!"

"Noted." Was the last thing Tsunade heard from Hiruzen before everything went white.

-Mindscape, Seal-

Artemis sat on her little platform with a bland look as she patiently waited for her company. Just because Naruto wasn't conscious doesn't mean his senses stopped working, so she was able to hear everything that had just been discussed. Sure enough, not even a minute later Tsunade's form appeared in a small flare of blue light, facing away from the seal.

The busty blonde stumbled slightly from disorientation for a few seconds until her senses stabilized and she caught herself. Once she got her bearings, Tsunade quickly started taking in her surroundings. "…I've heard of having your head in the gutter, but isn't this a little extreme?"

"I had a similar thought when I first arrived here." The instant Artemis's voice reached the blonde's ears, Tsunade whirled around with her fists raised. Upon seeing the child-looking goddess on her stone bed with her golden bindings, the in-disguise elderly woman's eyebrow rose but her stance never wavered.

"Who the hell are you?"

"…would you like the long version or the short?"

-Present-

Artemis told Tsunade her full story, figuring lying would get her nowhere at that point. Sadly for her, while the medic believed the part on how she got chained to the seal, the rest was considered pure imagination. Tsunade had ended up deeming her as the result of a split personality that had fully developed into a different person, with her unique 'chakra' being simply an unusual mixture of Naruto's and Kyuubi's.

On the plus side though, she was deemed not a threat and Naruto was released from the hospital with some meds to help with his sleeping issue. Though it did come with the condition that Shizune check up on the duo regularly, something Naruto was really happy about and Artemis didn't mind much.

"That is understandable, but I would still prefer if you referred to me by my name." Artemis said plainly before Naruto's eyes reverted to normal. Blinking a few times then squinting slightly, the blonde's hand quickly rose to rub his head while an annoyed groan escaped his lips.

' _Would you please warn me before you do that, gives me a headache from hell when you don't.'_ He mentally grumbled.

 _ **"Oh it isn't that bad, now quit your griping and hurry up, unless you want to be late."**_ Artemis said back, making Naruto snap to attention.

"Oh crap! I almost forgot!" He shouted, grabbing his plate and quickly wolfing down the contents. He then ran into his room and swiftly changed into his usual outfit, only now having a pair of dagger holsters that hung empty around his waist. Rushing back out, he gave Shizune another hug before heading for the door.

"I'll see you later Shizune-neechan!" Naruto yelled with a wave.

"Of course Otouto, don't forget the deal!" Shizune called to him, getting a thumbs-up from the whiskered blond just as the door closed. Said deal was simply, if Naruto could do well enough on every other portion of the final ninja exam, then the Third would excuse his inability to do the Bunshin no Jutsu and allow him to graduate. It was an idea proposed by Shizune herself after seeing how badly the boy struggled with chakra control thanks to his much larger than average reserves of chakra.

Even with all the usual glares and dark whispers around him, Naruto didn't drop the smirk from his face as he rushed through town. He was confident he could pass this time as both Shizune and Artemis had given him tips on physical practice, and while he was still terrible at written tests Artemis could cover for him there thanks to the mass amounts of studying she had done through Naruto while trying to figure out how to get back home.

Speaking of which, ever since she'd taken a look at a map of the Elemental Nations, the goddess of the hunt had the feeling she was much farther away from home than a simple boat ride could cover. This feeling was further cemented when Artemis was unable to find a single recognizable constellation in the night sky the entire year she'd been in this situation, and given she was responsible for making about two thirds of them that was a very big deal.

She knew there was the possibility of other worlds, as a goddess the impossible for most was a very real possibility for Artemis, but never in her long life had she or any of her siblings had ever actually gone to one before. The likelihood that she was actually trapped in one of these 'alternate worlds' only became higher and higher as each day passed as she learned more about her current surroundings.

Back to topic, Naruto finally arrived at the academy with some time to spare so he slowed his pace to walk as he entered through the main doors. Passing through the various hallways, he soon found himself inside the familiar classroom he'd been tort-uh, educated in for the last year. Half the seats were filled already, but with a quick glance around the room he spotted his lazy buddy Shikamaru at one of the back seats… already asleep.

Taking a seat next to him, the ponytailed boy briefly opened one eye a quarter of the way, just enough to confirm who was next to him before going back to sleep. Not long after that, Choji, a plump boy with a kind heart, and Kiba, a feral looking boy with red tattoos on his face and a small white puppy in his arms, arrived and took the seats on Shikamaru's other side and in front of Naruto respectively.

Then just five minutes before class started, Sasuke, a broody angsty boy with hair shaped like a duck's ass, showed up with an irritated look. That irritation was soon explained as a group of girls followed in from behind him and repeatedly professing their love for him. The ever-dreaded fangirls, led by Ino, a pretty blonde girl, and Sakura, a smart pink haired girl and Naruto's crush.

As soon as he arrived, Sasuke shot across the room and took the only unoccupied space with no opening around it, which happened to be right next to Naruto. This caused the horde of hormonal girls to groan as one while slowly dispersing into their seats, with some occasionally sending glares at the whiskered boy like it was somehow his fault.

Having dealt with worse all his life though, Naruto was easily able to ignore the angry looks as Iruka walked into the room and gave his usual speech before quickly passing out the written portion of the test with his assistant Mizuki. ' _Looks like you're up Arty-neechan.'_ Naruto thought as his eyes switched to silver again and 'he' raised 'his' pen.

"You may start your test…now!"

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry about the long timeskip and jumping around, but it was either this or half a dozen bland filler chapters. For those who haven't figured it out, Naruto is slowly becoming a sort of pseudo demi-god as he is exposed to more of Artemis's power. As for Tsunade deeming Artemis as a split personality, well given the amount of mental abuse Naruto had to deal with when he was younger, it isn't to far a stretch that that would cause him to suffer from split personality disorder *cough* Yami Naruto *Cough*, and much more believable than her being an actual goddess. And finally, Artemis is able to 'Possess' Naruto only because A. He lets her and is able to take back control whenever he wants and B. She isn't as restricted since she is only chained to the seal and not actually inside it. Thank you for reading and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If yu do not like no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Now before I start this chapter, there are a few thing I need to clear up. First, a lot of you are complaining that Artemis didn't teach Naruto much other than a few physical tips, I apologize for the misunderstanding. She has taught him more than that, I just didn't find it relevant to mention it at the time. Secondly, Artemis and Naruto's interactions with each-other, I get some of you say that they wouldn't get along or anything but you forget this is Naruto, the guy who's manages to befriend almost anyone, including people trying to kill him (Garra, Pein, Obito, Neji). There;s also the mutual survival factor, Artemis knows nothing of sealing and for all she knows if Naruto dies, she stays stuck inside his rotting corpse or even dragged into the afterlife with him. Finally, a common mix-up, Naruto does not have the dead demon consuming seal on him, he has the eight trigrams seal, so no, Artemis being attached to the seal wouldn't piss of the Shinigami or all that jazz.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 4-

A solitary target swung through the air in an erratic pattern between several trees. It was held up by a thin almost invisible wire that lightly glinted in the sunlight. The target itself was just barely the size of a person's palm with a three separate black and white rings…

*Fwoosh* *Thump*

…And now had an arrow embedded deeply into it that pinned it to the tree it was tied to, just missing the bulls-eye by a few centimeters.

Meanwhile, a little over two hundred yards away, Naruto gave a small cheer as he lowered his arms. He was wielding a plain wooden bow that Artemis had helped him make and a quiver of arrows rested against his thigh. He was still wearing the same clothes as earlier, the only difference being a blue headband with a metal plate depicting a stylized leaf wrapped around his noggin.

" _ **Your improving well, but you still need to work on lining up your shots faster."**_ Artemis said, her voice stern but with a bit of pride edging it. Naruto just grinned brightly at that, used to her half-compliments. Besides, he was still in a good mood from passing the final exam yesterday.

' _That's the understatement of the century. Remember when you first tried to teach me archery?'_ He asked with a grin.

" _ **Hmph, how could I forget? You missed your first shot by a mile and the arrow somehow ended up hitting that annoying old pervert right in the ass."**_ Artemis said with a chuckle while Naruto burst into laughter.

' _Oh man, ero-sennin was so pissed about that. Thank Kami he fell for the Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique).'_ Naruto thought as the moon goddess's smirk dropped and she growled lightly.

" _ **While I admit it does have its uses, I still despise that invention of yours."**_ She said, her teeth grinding together in irritation. Truthfully, the only reason she even tolerated that jutsu was the fact that her… landlord? was as dense as a diamond and tended completely miss anything perverted, or love related in general, unless it was blatantly said to him. A prime example being his total obliviousness towards a certain blue haired fellow student's infatuation with him.

Speaking of which, one Hinata Hyuga, a fellow graduate of Naruto's class, slowly walked into view with a paper bag in her arms as Naruto was lining up with another target that was a bit closer. She had short blueish black hair, pale lavender eyes that had no pupils, and a thin scar across her left cheek. Her clothes consisted of a thick baggy grey coat, a pair of dark blue pants that went three-fourths of the way down her legs, and an identical headband around her neck.

The short blond only noticed her arrival after he'd fired again and was reaching for another arrow. "Oh! Hey Hinata-chan, you're early!" He said exuberantly, slipping his arm through his bow so the string rested against his chest and the body against his back before pulling the girl into a one-armed hug.

About a month ago, Naruto had been training in this same area when he had heard a branch breaking behind him and shot at it on reflex. It was fortunate that his aim had been off on that day as it was Hinata who had made the noise while stalki- observing her crush. His shot wasn't a complete miss however and had instead ended up slicing her cheek pretty badly.

Horrified with what he'd done, the blond-redhead had apologized profusely to the poor girl, only to freak out even more when she suddenly fainted when he got close. Not knowing what else to do, and Artemis not having any better ideas, Naruto held Hinata in a bridal carry and took her to Shizune.

There were a few… complications along the way, turns out carrying an unconscious and bleeding heiress while hauling ass towards the hospital can look pretty bad out of context, but he eventually got there. Sadly, while Shizune was easily able to treat the injury because of the delay wasn't able to prevent it from scarring, thus making Naruto feel even worse. To make it up to the bluenette, he told her he'd do whatever she wanted for a whole month…

…to which she promptly passed out again only this time from a massive nose bleed.

After she'd calmed down a bit, Hinata accepted Naruto's offer, but so far had only made two requests. The first was that he had to take her out to her favorite bakery where they shared a plate of fresh cinnamon buns, and the second was that they would have lunch together every other day.

"H-h-hh-hello N-N-N-Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered meekly as her face turning a bright crimson and steam shot from her ears. Thankfully, after having spent almost an entire month hanging out with her crush on a regular basis, the shy girl was able to stop herself from passing out. "I-I f-figured t-t-that since w-w-we both g-graduated y-yesterday w-w-we could g-g-go c-celebrate a-after an e-e-early lunch."

"That's sounds like an awesome idea. What do you have in mind?" Naruto asked cheerfully as he pulled away from the flustered girl and sat down against a nearby tree.

"W-w-well, I w-was t-thinking t-that we c-c-could maybe w-we could g-g-go to t-the m-m-m-movies for a… for a…" '… _for a date!'_ Hinata finished mentally as she struggled to stay awake by focusing on preparing the food she brought with her in the bag, thus missing when Naruto winced slightly at her suggestion.

"Oh… uh, yeah… about that. I'm kinda… not allowed in the any of the movie theaters." He mumbled out with a sigh, his good mood diminished slightly as he accepted a cup of sweet tea and some rice balls that she offered him.

"R-really?" Hinata asked in surprise, getting a slow nod in response. "W-why?"

"I'm honestly not sure," Naruto said with a shrug. "Every time I've tried to go to one, the employees kick me out while saying I would cause or was causing trouble." Last time it had been how he had supposedly making to much noise during a movie, which actually would have been believable if it wasn't for the fact he hadn't even purchased a ticket yet.

"U-u-u-um, well I-I'm s-s-sure i-i-it will b-be o-okay i-if I'm w-w-with you." Hinata said optimistically. She was the heiress of one of the most prodigious clans of the entire village, so it was highly unlikely they would turn her down.

"Alright then, if you insist," Naruto said, feeling a little uneasy at basically using Hinata's status to get something but would go with it since it was her idea. Though that didn't stop him from pulling the girl into another one-armed hug, causing her to squeak adorably. "You know, you are so such a sweet girl Hinata. I'm amazed you're still single, anyone would be really lucky to have you as a girlfriend." He told her while taking a sip of his tea, completely missing as Hinata's face invented a new shade of red.

' _Girlfriend?! Is he asking me out!?'_ Hinata mentally shouted as her mind only registered the 'have you as a girlfriend' part. Her thoughts were flooded with imaginative scenarios of her and the boy hugging her on various dates, with each one becoming more and more romantic. It quickly became too much for the poor girl and she promptly passed out with steam flooding from her head.

Feeling her suddenly go limp against him, Naruto looked down at Hinata with a tilted head. ' _She should really go see a doctor about her fainting spells.'_ He thought with a sigh, having gotten used to the bluenette's habit of falling unconscious at 'random' times.

Meanwhile, inside his soul Artemis was facepalming at the utter obliviousness of her vessel. ' _He can never be allowed to meet Aphrodite, ever_.' A goddess of love meeting a boy almost completely ignorant of love. Yeah, her fellow Olympian would stop at absolutely nothing to ensure he was _properly educated_. Of course, she'd have to do it without her fancy tricks, as those only worked on someone who was properly aware of romantic love, a flaw Aphrodite put into her own magic so that she wouldn't accidentally affect young children.

…Hey, even she had standards and taboos she wouldn't cross.

Anyway, back in the real world Naruto carefully stood up, making sure not to jostle Hinata and gently setting her against the tree. Once he was free, he stretched a little bit before walking over to a very battered up log that had been stuck into the ground and carved into the rough likeness of a person. ' _So how are the sets going to be today?'_ He asked while reaching to the empty holsters at his hips just as they were enveloped in a brief flash of silver light.

When it cleared, he had his hands clasped around a pair of ivory handles as he drew two long, slightly curved, hooked silver blades. These were the Dancing Lunar Blades, Artemis's backup knives that she'd reluctantly allowed Naruto to use on the condition that he did exactly as she instructed while teaching him to use them.

' _ **Three sets of two hundred rising diagonal slashes then we'll go over vital and joint strikes."**_ When they had first started training, Artemis had tried to teach him the same way as her hunters. This didn't last very long though Naruto lacked the natural flexibility and nimbleness that she was used to working with and ended up throwing his back out. So, she was stuck teaching him basic knife skills, archery training, and muscle memory with a few more advanced tricks she'd managed to rework.

By the time Hinata awoke from her 'nap', Naruto had finished his workout and after agreeing on a meet up point, The Autumn Leaf Theater, the duo split up to get ready. Naruto headed to his place to take a bath and change, while Hinata rushed off to get advice from the only person she could think of.

-Twenty minutes later, Yamanaka Flower shop-

"You're going out on a date?!" One Ino Yamanaka, supposed date exert and gossip queen of Konoha, squealed as she rushed out from behind the counter she was manning and got right in a blushing Hinata's face. "With who!? When is it!? What are you going to wear!?" She demanded, grabbing the shy girl by the shoulders and shaking her like a ragdoll.

"II afl lskfgl lfwrj!" Unfortunately, Hinata's natural stuttering combined with the shaking meant that every word she tried to say came out as a garbled mess. She'd only managed to get out that she was going to the movies with someone when Ino went ape-shit on her. This was the sight Ino's mother, a brown haired, brown eyed woman wearing a forest green dress, was greeted with when she walked in from the back with a gardenia bush in her arms.

Giggling at her daughter's antics, Mrs. Yamanaka set the plant down in its proper place before walking over and prying the blonde off. "Ino dear, please refrain from violently shaking our customers." She said in a sickly-sweet tone, making Ino shiver and violently nod while in her mother's grip as she was set back down behind the register. "Now could you explain to me what exactly is going on here and who this is?"

"Oh, this is Hinata, she's from my class and she's going on a date today!" Ino said with another squeal. Hinata meanwhile became even more flustered when Mrs. Yamanaka shifted her gaze over to her.

"And let me guess, you figured with how much my daughter talks about romance she would have some good advice to help out?" When the shy Hyuga slowly nodded her head, the woman smiled cheerily while grasping the girl's shoulder. "Well since Ino is busy with her shift, I'll just have to fill in for her but let's talk about this at my home where there aren't any… eavesdropping blabbermouths." Mrs. Yamanaka said while sending a pointed look towards the innocently whistling blonde behind the counter as she led Hinata out of the shop.

' _I really hope this is worth it.'_ Hinata thought worriedly. ' _I wonder what Naruto is doing right now.'_

As soon as she and Mrs. Yamanaka were out of sight, Ino immediately rushed to the door and flipped the sign from open to closed before rushing out the door. ' _Must find out which theaters are open today! There is no way I am missing gossip as juicy as this!'_

-Meanwhile, Naruto's Apartment-

"I don't get why I have to dress differently Arty-nee, we're just going to watch a movie together." Naruto grumbled shaking the water out of his hair before he put on a plain black t-shirt.

" _ **I never understood the reasoning either, but it is apparently the proper thing to do."**_ Artemis said back, having never had to deal with or worry about the romantic does and don't herself for very obvious reasons. So, her advice was limited to the few snippets she could remember from Aphrodite and her brother Apollo constantly talking about, something she would deny afterward till the day she faded.

' **Never in a million years did I think I'd actually be helping a male get ready for a date, especially one who still hadn't realized he was going on one**.' Artemis thought with a deadpan. Sure, she could have told him herself, but found it highly unlikely he would even believe her… and she was maybe kinda hoping to recruit the heiress as one of her hunters once she got loose from her imprisonment. With her Byakugan's, the Hyuga family kekkei genkai (Bloodline Limit), three-sixty vision, ability to see through solid objects, and long rang sight Hinata had the potential to be one of the best archers Artemis had ever seen.

But the moon goddess wasn't low enough to actively sabotage the two's chance together. So she settled for just keeping quiet and letting things play out, besides she was confident that Naruto's ignorance would eventually cause Hinata to give up sooner or later.

"Whatever, at least it isn't some stuffy old formal kimono." Naruto said while slipping on a pair of slightly baggy orange pants with dark blue highlights.

" _ **Agreed."**_ One of the times Artemis had synced, aka willingly possessed, with Naruto was during a large festival a few months back. Shizune had been with them and had insisted that Naruto wear an appropriate attire for it. She had been tired of Naruto complaining about it and had offered to switch places just to shut him up. Not even five minutes later Artemis relinquished control and retreated to her more comfortable bindings, not able to stand the itching, restrictive, and stuffy outfit a second longer.

After strapping on his sandals and taking a quick glance at the clock, Naruto saw he had about half an hour before he needed to meet up with Hinata. "Uh, hey Arty-nee any ideas what to do for the next thirty minutes?"

"… _ **Perhaps you should get a gift for Hinata,"**_ Artemis suggested after a brief pause, not knowing what else to say. " _ **You are going out to celebrate graduation after all."**_

Naruto considered this for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I could get her some cinnamon buns from her favorite bakery. Thanks Artemis-nee." He said cheerily while leaving his apartment.

" _ **Don't mention it. Seriously don't, ever."**_ The goddess said dully, getting a laugh from the blond as he jogged through the streets of Konoha at a casual pace.

' _Relax, your 'secret' is safe with m-' "_ Oof!" "Gah!" Naruto was cut off mid thought when someone crashed into his side as he was at a cross-section. Caught off guard, he was knocked clean off his feet and set tumbling several yards across the ground before skidding to a stop on his back.

Once the shock of impact wore off and his brain caught up with what just happened, Naruto found blinking in surprise as he stared directly into the vibrant greenish-blue eyes of Ino as she straddled his lap. " _ **Huh, talk about Déjà vu."**_ Artemis deadpanned, ' **How the hell does he get into these kinds of situations?'**

"Uh, hi Ino?" Naruto said nervously as he made sure to keep his arms firmly at his sides.

"Oh, hey Naruto." Ino said in a dismissive tone as she quickly got back on her feet. "Sorry, can't deal with your dumbness now… have to find out where Hinata's date is going to be." Naruto felt his temper flare at how casually she'd insulted him, but was immediately broken from his anger when he heard her mumble that last bit while walking away.

"Wait, what do you mean Hinata's date? How could she be going on a date when me and her are going to the movies in half an hour?" He asked as he stood up and dusted himself off, causing Ino to freeze mid-step.

"W-w-what did you just say?" She asked back as her head slowly turned to face him with a rusty creaking noise.

"Uh…" Naruto felt a sudden nervousness wash over him as Ino's gaze bore into him, likek she was trying to read his thoughts just by staring at him hard enough. "…me and Hinata are going to the movies so-HEY!" He yelled indignantly as his fellow blonde grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him off. "Let me go!"

"No way! This is the juiciest news I've heard in ages and this time I am not gonna miss out on it!" Ino said as she pulled him into the closest alley and pushed him against a wall. "Now tell me everything!"

-End Chapter-

AN: Just to clarify, the final pairing is NOT decided yet, so Naruto may or may not get with Hinata still. However, Artemis will not be an option for said pairing simply cause she is a sworn virgin goddess and no matter how much she may get to know and even like Naruto, that won't change. I do have a pretty big surprise though for later in the story that will hopefully make up for that entirely.

That all being said, I do hope you like how I got Naruto and Hinata to interact. In many stories I've read that have a naruhina pairing, the writer usually changes Hinata's personality to make her more forward, or makes Naruto less of a dense idiot to notice which always annoyed me. So I tried to keep them as canonical as possible while still getting them to interact. Thank you for reading and please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson series. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 5-

-Last Time-

 _"Wait, what do you mean Hinata's date? How could she be going on a date when me and her are going to the movies in half an hour?" He asked as he stood up and dusted himself off, causing Ino to freeze mid-step._

 _"W-w-what did you just say?" She asked back as her head slowly turned to face him with a rusty creaking noise._

 _"Uh…" Naruto felt a sudden nervousness wash over him as Ino's gaze bore into him, likek she was trying to read his thoughts just by staring at him hard enough. "…me and Hinata are going to the movies so-HEY!" He yelled indignantly as his fellow blonde grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him off. "Let me go!"_

 _"No way! This is the juiciest news I've heard in ages and this time I am not gonna miss out on it!" Ino said as she pulled him into the closest alley and pushed him against a wall. "Now tell me everything!_

-And Now-

Hinata and Naruto exited the Autumn Leaf Theater, a tall building with a variety of red, orange, and yellow colors fitting the season of fall, laughing happily as they discussed the movie they watched ' _Ernest goes to Ninja Academy'_ and finished off their bucket of popcorn.

Like Hinata had expected, despite their intense dislike for her blonde crush, the majority of the staff for the theater immediately backed off from their attempts to kick him out when she explained that he was with her. The only one who didn't seem to get the message was the ticket checker at the entrance door, but he was promptly fired by the manager for doing something as stupid as trying to kick out the heiress of the prodigious Hyuga clan of all people.

Speaking of Hinata, she was thankful for Mrs. Yamanaka's advice on what to do on the date, even if it could be summed up as being herself with a few little extra tidbits here and there. At the same time though, she was extremely nervous inside as Naruto had told her about his run in with Ino. If there was any moment she hated the blond-redhead's extreme denseness the most, it would have been right then and there as it turned out he had told the Gossip Queen of Konoha all about their time together.

-Flashback-

 _"You two have been going out for a month!?" Ino exclaimed in surprise, finally releasing her grip from Naruto's shirt after she managed to coerce the whole story out of him._

 _"For the last time, we aren't dating. I'm just making up for accidentally hurting Hinata while I was training." Naruto said again, only for his words to be completely ignored as Ino was now in full-blown gossip mode._

 _"OH! This explains why Hinata's been acting so oddly recently. I thought she'd just been becoming more confident or maybe seeing a therapist, but this!" She ranted, running her hands through her hair as she paced back and forth. "I never expected miss 'can't speak louder than a mouse' of all people to managed to get together with someone before myself, and with you of all people." She mumbled, looking Naruto over dubiously._

 _"Hey! What's wrong with dating me?" Naruto asked indignantly, getting in his fellow blonde's face as his irritation towards her earlier insults flaring back up._

 _This actually seemed to knock Ino back to reality finally as she looked at Naruto with a blank expression while rolling her eyes. "You're super annoying, always pulling stupid pranks and goofing off, and the deadlast of our class. Should I go on?" She asked rhetorically, before blinking in surprise when instead of responding verbally Naruto started digging around in his pockets._

 _Finding what he was looking for after a few moments, Naruto pulled out a folded up piece of paper and promptly shoved it into Ino's hands before pushing her out of the way and marching off angrily._

 _Confused at what that was all about, Ino shrugged it off and looked down at the parchment now in her grasp. After a brief mental debate, her curiosity won out and she unfolded said paper. As soon as her gaze made contact with the content written upon the page though, the gossiper's jaw fell straight to the ground, the rest of her not far behind as she fainted._

-End Flashback-

While also upset at Ino for insulting her crush so blatantly, when Naruto had told Hinata what was on the paper he'd given her she had felt much better and had even laughed a little. You see, after announcing the day everyone would come back to be put into teams, Iruka had passed out report cards detailing how well someone had done on the test and what rank they got in class.

Ino had gotten ranked eighth place overall. This was something she'd been bragging about as the only girls who'd gotten higher than her were Hinata herself, who beat her in the physical aspect, and Sakura, who beat her in the theoretical aspect.

What Ino hadn't known until now however was that Naruto, the person she had insulted for being stupid and deadlast…

…had gotten seventh place in the final rankings.

Oh, she could imagine that drama queen's reaction already.

"This has been an awesome night, I'm glad you talked me into this." Naruto said while giving Hinata a one-armed hug. "We should do this again sometime."

While glowing red from a blush, both from the hug and the blonde's thoughtless words, Hinata managed to keep herself calm with a few discreet deep breaths, another tip from Mrs. Yamanaka. "H-how about after w-we get assigned to t-teams?" She suggested, mental grumbling when Naruto broke the hug until he turned to her with his trademark foxy smile.

"That's sound great, we could even invite some of our friends while we're at it then." He said happily, missing the slight disappointment on Hinata's face since his eyes were closed. She was about to respond when Naruto suddenly stopped with a shiver before looking up to the sky. Following his gaze curiously, she blinked in surprise when she saw the moon just starting to peek out over the horizon.

"It's getting pretty late, we should be heading home soon." Naruto stated, trying to ignore the sudden rush of energy he'd felt the instant the moon's soft rays touched his skin. It happened every night and was the main reason he had such difficulty sleeping, with it being the strongest during the full moon and weakest on a new moon.

Hinata nodded in agreement, knowing how her father would get if she stayed out too late. While not the most vocal about it, Hiashi Hyuga did care deeply about her and would no doubt be very concerned over her unexplained absence. So, with a good amount of reluctance, she meekly bid Naruto goodnight and hurried off to the Hyuga Compound before such an event could happen.

Meanwhile Naruto, after a brief mental conversation with Artemis, decided to go back to his training ground and burn off the extra steam he got before calling it a night. Besides, even though he graduated didn't mean he could slack off, especially since he still wanted to be Hokage one day.

-Five days later, Academy-

The entire classroom buzzed with chatter as the newly minted Genin talked excitedly in their seats. Naruto was sitting near the window with Sasuke on one side using him as a fangirl barrier and Hinata on the other. Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru sat in front of them with the later dead asleep already, behind them was Shino and two random boys, and to the side of them was Sakura, Ino and a horde of arguing fangirls.

Most were discussing about who they thought or wanted to be teamed up with, the exceptions being Naruto, who was focused on calming down Artemis as she raged about how the fangirls were making women look pathetic, and said fangirls themselves. They were more focused on arguing over a certain duck-butt haired brooding Uchiha, with Sakura easily being the most vocal.

Or at least, she was until the pinkette noticed a complete lack of reaction from her rival Ino, who was just sitting in her spot while staring at the report card Naruto had given her with a look of denial. Naturally curious on what could possible distract the platinum blonde from their precious 'Sasuke-kun', Sakura peered over her shoulder and started reading for herself.

 **Uzumaki Naruto**

 **Written Exam: 91%**

 **Taijutsu Exam: 89%**

 **Kunai Throwing: 9/10**

 **Shuriken Throwing: 8/10**

 **Ninjutsu Exam: 2/3**

 **Final Results: 82%**

 **Class Ranking: 7** **th**

"Uh Ino, what are you doing with Naruto-baka's exam results?" Sakura asked in confusion before a certain fact popped in her head. "Wait a second… didn't you get ranked eighth? That would mean…" She trailed off as the answer dawned on her, swiftly followed by an outburst of laughter as she fell into her seat while holding her sides.

"Bwahahaha! You got a lower grade than Naruto of all people!" She said between laughs, drawing the other girls' attention. Faster than you could blink, Sakura's laughter turned into yelps of pain as she was knocked out of her seat and trampled by the horde of females that crowded around Ino and gapped at the sheet in her hands then at Naruto as he rubbed his head in irritation.

Naruto sighed in relief as he finally managed to get Artemis to relax with the promise of letting her have full control Saturday night for a hunting trip and a long soak at the hotsprings. Before he could relax however, he felt a sudden chill run down his spine as a shadow fell over him. Looking up, he blinked in surprise when he found himself surrounded by the girls of his class, each one glowering down at him while cracking their knuckles threateningly.

"Uh… can I help you with something?" Naruto asked slightly nervously, discreetly doing the handsigns for the Kawarimi under the desk just in case.

Thankfully, before the angry fangirls could try anything, Iruka entered the room. "Alright everyone, take your seats and quiet down." The man said as he walked over to his desk, only for his to start twitching as he was completely ignored. "I said… SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" He yelled, making everyone jump before scrambling to their seats.

Once they were all properly seated, Iruka quickly double checked that everyone was present before pulling out the scroll with the teams listed on them. "Now before I start with team assignments and before any of you ask, Mizuki will not be joining us due to… medical issues." Iruka stated, getting a few curious looks but most didn't really care as not many really liked the white-haired teacher.

Of course, even if he did show up no one would recognize him after what happened to him last week after the Ninja Exams. He'd apparently tried to break into the Hokage Vault and steal the Scroll of Seals right during the night, only to get caught red-handed by Tsunade when she showed up to drop off her bi-weekly medical reports from the hospital.

The end results were…

-Konoha Hospital-

In the intensive care wing, what could only be described as a mummy lied on one of the beds with an air-mask and heart monitor attacked to it showing it was still alive. This was especially clear when a certain busty blonde walked in and the heart monitor started beeping rapidly. It then practically overloaded when Tsunade was joined by a purple haired, brown eyed woman wearing a large open tan trench coat showing her scantily clad form with a smirk and a REALLY big needle in her hands full of an unknown clear fluid.

"Now Mizuki, you're going to tell us everything we need to know." The unknown woman said with a sadistic grin as she pointed the needle at him. "And doubt worry, this will only hurt a lot."

-Academy-

…not pretty, to say the least.

"Anyway, to the reason all of you are here." Iruka said as he unrolled the scroll in his hands and every began paying rapt attention. "Team One will is…"

(Que fast forwarding sound effect)

"…Team Seven is Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Shikamaru Nara. Your team leader is Kakashi Hatake." Iruka said, rolling his eyes at the cheer, muffled groan, and snore he got in response before continuing.

"Team Eight is Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame with Kurenai Yuhi as your leader." Kiba whooped happily as his puppy Akamaru woofed, Shino had no visible reaction, and Hinata just looked glum at the fact she wouldn't be on the same team as Naruto.

"Team Nine is still in circulation. Finally, Team Ten will be Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your team leader is Asuma Sarutobi." Naruto, while a little saddened that he wasn't on the same team as either Sakura or Hinata, still smiled cheerfully as he high-fived Choji and accepted the small bag of chips the 'big-boned' boy offered him. Ino finally seemed to snap out of her daze, and opened her mouth to start bitching but a sharp look from Iruka shut her right up.

"Sensei, why do I have to be paired up with this lazy idiot. He'll just drag me and Sasuke down with his slothfulness." The same could not be said for Sakura however.

"For a very simple reason Sakura," Iruka said in his patented lecture voice, "The teams are specifically set up to be as balanced as possible. For example, we traditionally have the two highest scoring students," He gestures to the pinkette and Sasuke, "and the lowest scoring student*," Iruka points to Shikamaru who's still snoring away. "Put on the same team to balance to both encourage the failing student to do better and keep the better students from getting to high an ego."

" _ **A smart idea, many strong or intelligent men and women have gotten themselves and others killed due to a swelled head."**_ Artemis said to Naruto solemnly, having seem such cases many times in her long lifespan. One example was a daughter of Athena she had only just recruited in the 1800's who'd gotten herself and three other hunters eaten by a cyclops after arrogantly believing she could defeat the monster on her own with her inherited high intelligence.

Naruto nodded at that, but didn't say anything as he knew he tended to get cocky and overconfident during a fight himself. He was a little better than he used to be though thanks to Artemis's words of wisdom and Tsunade literally beating some humility into him every once in a while.

"With that all cleared up, please wait here until your new Kyoshi (Teachers) arrive here shortly for your first team meetings." Iruka told them while rolling up the team list scroll and heading for the door. Just before he left though, the nose-scarred man turned back to the class and bowed. "It has been my honor teaching you, and I wish you all the best of luck."

With his piece said, Iruka exited the classroom, leaving behind a complete silence that held the room for several moments before the door opened again and two people stepped inside. The first was a man with black hair and beard, tan skin, and a cigarette in his mouth while the other was a woman who was also black haired, with pale skin and striking red eyes.

"Team Eight with me." The woman said with a wave of her arm, only having to wait a few seconds before Hinata, Shino, and a visibly drooling Kiba stood in front of her before heading right back out the door again with her team in tow.

The man on the other hand seemed content to just stand there and finish his cigarette. Once he was down to the butt, he spat it out and smothered it with his foot before smiling lightly. "I'm here for team Ten, please follow me."

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry for the short and mostly filler chapter, I'll try to make up for it in the next one. Now, before any of you complain about Naruto being on Team Ten, let me fully explain. In canon, Naruto was put on Team 7 because he had the worst scores while Sakura and Sasuke had the best.

It is also canon, pointed out by Kurenai, that Shikamaru's written test scores were as bad if not worse than Naruto's. And given how lazy he is, probably only did the absolute bare minimum for the other portions of the test as well. So now that Naruto ISN'T the deadlast, Shikamaru likely is and as such would be put on team seven as is tradition. Thank you for reading and please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

I apologize for any mistaken Japanese, I used Google Translate

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 6-

-Last Time-

 _With his piece said, Iruka exited the classroom, leaving behind a complete silence that held the room for several moments before the door opened again and two people stepped inside. The first was a man with black hair and beard, tan skin, and a cigarette in his mouth while the other was a woman who was also black haired, with pale skin and striking red eyes._

 _"Team Eight with me." The woman said with a wave of her arm, only having to wait a few seconds before Hinata, Shino, and a visibly drooling Kiba stood in front of her before heading right back out the door again with her team in tow._

 _The man on the other hand seemed content to just stand there and finish his cigarette. Once he was down to the butt, he spat it out and smothered it with his foot before smiling lightly. "I'm here for team Ten, please follow me."_

-And Now-

Inside a small barbeque restaurant, the three members of the newly formed team 10 sat on one side of a table while their just as newly assigned sensei sat down on the other and quickly ordered them all something to eat. He then proceeded to light up the personal grill built into the middle of the table and set it to the proper temperature.

"Well then, while we're waiting for the food to arrive let's get a little more acquainted, shall we?" The man, Asuma if Iruka was to be believed, said as he relaxed into his seat and lit up a cigarette. "Just share your name, skills, and maybe a few facts about yourself if you'd like. I'll start, the name's Asuma Sarutobi, I'll be your teacher for the indeterminate time it takes you all to either get promoted, an apprenticeship, quit, or die."

The way he said that last bit so bluntly and casually making the three of them cringe slightly, he certainly wasn't sugar-coating anything. "I am a close combat specialist preferring knives, with a few wind and fire jutsu under my belt. I'm a pretty chill guy, just don't mess with my smokes or else." Asuma said, twirling a customized trench knife lazily before pointing it at Naruto. "You next."

While a little unnerved, the blonde-redhead quickly shook it off and introduced himself. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage dattabayo. I prefer using knives as well, but also know a bit of archery thanks to Arty-neechan." He said cheerfully, earning two confused looks from Ino and Choji.

' _Arty-neechan?'_ The two unknowingly thought at the same time while Ino struggled to restrain her inner gossip queen from popping out and force her fellow blonde into telling her what she wanted. Naruto had already told her about his bow training, having had to mention it when he was coerced into talking about his 'relationship' with Hinata, but he had not mentioned who was teaching him so she had assumed he was self-taught. Actually, she had thought he had been bullshitting her in an attempt to look cool.

Ino was brought out of her thoughts when a waitress came by and set down a large tray of different uncooked meats, vegetables, sauces, chopsticks, and plates. Recognizing the woman as the mother of one her friends in the academy, the blonde was about to greet her, but stopped when she noticed the stink-eye the waitress was giving Naruto.

This was odd for Ino since, being the gossiper that she was, as far as she knew Naruto hadn't done anything to the woman to deserve such hostility. Her curiosity peeked, she filed the thought away for later as she split a pair of chopsticks and started placing lots of the meats and veggies on the grill. ' _Better make sure to eat plenty or Mom will tan my rear again.'_ She thought with a grimace.

Mrs. Yamanaka had brought the hammer down on her daughter last month after the fifth time she'd tried extreme dieting. Ino couldn't sit properly for almost three days from the spanking she got, and for added measure, she was forced to read several books describing the many downsides of her kind of dieting in VERY vivid detail. While many were horrible in their own right, the worse one in her opinion was the very high possibility of becoming barren, and she certainly couldn't get Sasuke to fall for her if she couldn't even have children.

She had even tried to warn Sakura about it, but sadly the pinkette had simply accused her of trying to trick her. Not only continued to diet, but had started doing even more extreme ones and Ino was beginning to see exactly what her mother had been warning her about. Her best friend turned rival's skin had been slowly losing pigment while becoming unnaturally tighter and withdrawn around her cheeks and joints. At the same time, Sakura had been increasingly lethargic as of late, with their usual arguments over Sasuke ending sooner and sooner due to her needing to sit down and rest.

Before these dark thoughts could get any farther though, Ino was once again forced back to reality, this time by someone loudly clearing their throat. Looking towards the source, she found herself under Asuma, Naruto, and Choji's expectant stares. Turned out while she was distracted, Choji had gone through his introduction and now they were waiting for her.

"Oh! Uh, ahem…Hi, I'm Ino Yamanaka. I know some of my clan's techniques, and a variety of poisonous and medicinal plants. And as you can see, the most beautiful kunoichi of the year." Ino said, adding a mock flirtatious wink at the end that Asuma rolled his eyes good naturedly at.

"Well then, now that that is out of the way we can move onto the main deal, your final exam. Which starts as soon as you're done eating." The moment these words left Asuma's mouth three things happened at once, Choji actually stopped eating, Naruto choked on a piece of pork, and Ino dropped her chopsticks.

"What final exam!?" Naruto and Ino demanded at the same time, both standing up and getting in the man's face only to quickly be repulsed with an unnaturally fragrant puff of cigarette smoke.

" _ **Mother of Zeus! What in Tartarus are those things made of?!**_ " Artemis gagged as she smelt the pungent smell through Naruto.

' _No idea, but I am never smoking, ever.'_ Naruto replied, waving his hand desperately to hasten the noxious fumes dispersal.

Meanwhile, a tiny smirk appeared on Asuma's lips as he watched the two blondes struggle with a watered-down version of his Katon: Kitsuen-sha no jigoku(Fire Release: Smoker's Hell). "It's rather easy to explain really. After a group of newly minted genin such as yourselves are put into a squad and assigned a team leader, said team leader will put said squad through a personal test. This is to see if you all are actually worthy of being shinobi and if the time and effort put into training you further would be a waste. If failed, you all will be immediately sent back to the academy for continued training or dropped from the program entirely."

" _ **Blunt, direct, and straight to the point. I like that."**_ The moon goddess commented with a nod of approval towards the explanation. She always hated when one danced around the subject at hand using half-truths and/or overly complicated wording, making it nearly impossible to figure out what they truly said in the end. Especially when it involved dealing either her brother, Hermes, or Aphrodite as they were experts in the art of wordplay.

"Your test is a relatively simple one and, as I've already said, starts as soon as you're done eating. All you have to do is find and capture me in training ground 10 before five o'clock." *Poof* Before any of the kids could respond to his declaration, the bearded smoker was engulfed in a puff of more foul smoke that left them all (Artemis included still) hacking and coughing. Once it cleared up, Asuma was naturally nowhere to be seen, only a small stack of bills to pay for the meal.

Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was already a quarter past two, the trio quickly scarfed down their food and hurried out of the restaurant. "We need to hurry! The train grounds are on the other side of Konoha!" Ino yelled as she ran down the street, missing the blank looks she was getting from Naruto and Choji.

"She's not seriously going by road, is she?" Naruto asked Choji blankly, receiving a slow nod of confirmation in response. *Sigh* "I'll get her, meet you there." The blonde-redhead said, getting another nod before they separated with Naruto dashing after Ino while Choji took to the rooftops.

Before Ino even realized what happened, she found herself quite literally swept off her feet and soaring through the air as Naruto grabbed her and leapt up on top of the nearest building. Reacting instinctually, she squirmed wildly while assaulting the sparkled-eyed boy with a flurry of smacks and jabs. "What the hell Naruto-baka?! What are you doing?! Put me down!"

She quickly got her wish as an annoyed looking Naruto promptly dropped her on her ass, making her yelp from both surprise and pain. "It'll be faster to go by rooftop, we can cut right across to the training grounds." He told her bluntly as she was recovering then dashing off.

Standing up slowly, Ino winced as she rubbed her lightly bruised posterior while glaring at the direction Naruto had gone. "Hey! That is not how you treat a lady! Get back here you baka and apologize!" She screamed as she started chasing after him.

-15 minutes later-

Naruto landed in training ground 10, a lightly forested area with several large creeks and stone outcroppings, and casually walked over to Choji who was happily eating a bag of chips. Ino showed up a few seconds later, though her landing wasn't as… *Thump* *Huff* *Wheeze*

…graceful.

Naruto, Choji, and Artemis sweatdropped at the sight of the exhausted girl slowly standing up while trying to catch her breath. " _ **She cannot be serious, please tell me she isn't serious.**_ " The moon goddess asked dully, her newly recruited ex-civilian hunters could normally manage that kind of exercise with only moderate trouble and this girl looked like she was going to hurl.

' _Don't be too harsh nee-chan,'_ Naruto thought as he fished out a storage scroll out of his kunai pouch and unrolled. With a quick application of chakra and a poof of smoke his quiver, bow, and knife sheathes appeared in his hands. ' _She probably just had too much to eat or something.'_

" _ **Your unending optimism never ceases to amaze me.**_ " Artemis said in the same bland tone while Naruto hooked everything up. Seriously, was there anything that could keep this boy down for long?

' _I aim to please!'_ Naruto thought with a smile, notching an arrow while turning to Choji and a recovered Ino. "Well, we're here, let's get this test finished." He said, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly.

His mood quickly dropped though when Ino shoved him to the side and stood over him. "Alright, first things first I'm in charge, you and piggy over there better not slow me down. I will not fail this test because you two slackers dragged me down." She said with a huff before marching off in a random direction.

Naruto and Choji glanced at each-other before shrugging in sync and following the girl's lead, neither of them noticing Asuma observing them from above. "Hey, you got any spare snacks Choji?"

Instead of verbally replying Choji simply pulled another bag of chips out from one of his pockets and handed it to Naruto. "Thanks."

-One hour later-

"Hurry up would you, we need to go faster. No, go that way, we already looked in that direction. Stop jostling so much. And keep your hands where I can see them or else I'll…"

' _Can I shoot her? Please?'_ Naruto asked with a twitching eyebrow as he tried to tune out Ino's complaining as she rode on his shoulders. They had been looking all over the training ground with absolutely no luck and the gossip queen had eventually started complaining about her feet hurting. Choji carried her for a bit only for her to complain about crumbs getting on her so now Naruto was stuck doing it. So here they were, tree-hopping all over the place as Ino constantly bitched. ' _I could make it look like an accident.'_

 _"_ _ **No… it's not worth the trouble.**_ " Artemis said through gritted teeth while rubbing her forehead in a vain attempt to prevent the headache she could feel forming.

' _Could you give me a hand then? You are the one who knows how to track after all.'_ Naruto pointed out.

"Ugh, could we get somewhere shadier, I'm sweating like cra-EEEK!" Ino shrieked out when her ride suddenly dropped to the ground and bucked her off. "What the hell Naruto! What are you-"

"Silence," Ino and Choji froze as they heard Artemis's voice come out from Naruto's mouth as they saw his eye colors suddenly switch. "You are no longer leading, you have done nothing but complain while guiding us in circles." Ino was about to complain some more before shivering as she literally felt the irritation behind those words, that and suddenly had an odd craving for carrots.

"Uh Naruto… what's up with your voice?" Choji asked nervously.

"Call me Artemis, Naruto will explain later but right now we have a prey to track down. So be silent." Artemis said, her gaze flickering in several different directions while she strained her hearing to the max before settling on a tree several feet to her left. ' _ **Hmph, too easy.'**_ "Pay attention, this is the plan…"

Up in the treeline, Asuma's eyes narrowed as he watched the interaction between his possible students. ' _Father wasn't kidding, he truly does become a different person.'_ He thought, watching with slight amazement as Naruto's appearance changed but his body language shifted from excited and eager to calm, collected, and alert. The Third Hokage had warned him on the boy's unique condition, but it was still quite intriguing to see first-hand.

Of course, that intrigue didn't prevent him from dodging accordingly as two arrows embedded themselves in the branch he had been standing on. Seeing that he'd been made, Asuma dropped to the ground in front of the three. "Good job you three, you finally found me." He said, mentally noting that Naruto was back to normal. "Now you just have to catch me… if you can." He taunted while casually catching an arrow flying at him.

"Just watch us Entotsu-Sensei(Smokestack-Sensei)! We'll kick your ass all the way to next week if we have too!" Naruto declared while lining up another shot, only instead of having a regular arrowhead, this one had sixteen edges. The reason for this was soon revealed as Naruto released the shot, Asuma was about to deflect it using the arrow still in his grasp when the projectile suddenly split apart midair, revealing a net made of ninja-wire that quickly snared him.

Before Naruto could enjoy his success though, Asuma disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind a log in his place. "Damn, he Kawar-GAH!" Naruto was cut off midsentence by a heavy kick to his back that sent him flying face first into a tree. "… … …owwwwww."

"Always be aware of your surroundings," Asuma said from where Naruto used to stand, rapidly striking out with two punches that sent his other two hopeful students tumbling away. "Failing to do so can and will lead to your demise."

Peeling his face out of the tree, Naruto spat out a mouthful of bark with a grimace while shouldering his bow, summoning his knives, and charging straight at the smoking man with a rising slash. He never got close though as Asuma easily blocked the strike, and the several follow-ups, with his trench knives.

' _Hmm, not bad, though the style clearly isn't suited for him.'_ Asuma thought, noting the look of discomfort in Naruto's face as he did a semi-complex feint that made it look like he was attacking the chest when he was really aiming for the legs. He was slightly surprised though when Naruto suddenly aborted his assault entirely with a wide grin, but was pretty sure he knew why when he felt the ground start rumbling underneath his feet.

"HUMAN BOULDER!" Choji yelled as his now giant ball-like form barreled through the area like an angry rhino. While the smoker was busy dodging the 'big-boned' boy, Naruto redrew his bow and pulled out two different arrows. The first was similar to his net arrow only with twenty slightly curved edges instead of sixteen straight while the second had a ridged metal shaft and a black round arrowhead.

Nothing them both at the same time, Naruto leapt back several feet before lining up his shot while channeling chakra into both arrows, giving them a light blue sheen. ' _Wait for the signal… wait for it… There!'_ Naruto thought as he spotted Ino peeking out from behind a tree, using a kunai to reflect the light in a specific pattern. As soon as he saw this Naruto fired, sending the first arrow sailing high into the sky until it vanished among the clouds.

The second one on the other hand flew straight at Asuma just as he hopped out of the way of another charge from Choji. In a show of near inhuman flexibility though, Asuma bent backwards nearly ninety degrees allowing the arrow to pass over him harmlessly, or so he thought.

When he leaned back up, he felt something lightly bite into his cheek and instinctually grabbed it. ' _Wire?'_ He wondered, before turning his head when he heard an odd noise behind him. What he was greeted with, was the sight of the arrow bouncing off of trees, rocks, and other such debris all around him while leaving behind a trail of ninja wire that got caught on the handles of several kunai's that had been strategically placed throughout the area.

In less than thirty seconds, a veritable web of the thin metal cord completely surrounded him as Naruto caught the bouncing projectile and pulled the whole thing taut. Seconds later, the arrow he shot into the sky came back into view, having split into twenty separate shots connected by another net as they spun rapidly. Falling perfectly around Asuma, the net snagged onto the cords surrounding him pulling them even more closely together and trapping him further.

"Kyūjutsu: Tsuki no Seiza Kēji (Bow Art: Lunar Constellation Cage)." Naruto said with a grin while mentally thanking Artemis for helping him come up with this trick.

"Now Ino!" Choji yelled, having shrunk back down to regular size.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" The blonde girl cried, forming a square with her hands and pointing it towards Asuma then suddenly going limp and collapsing. At the same time, Asuma suddenly became entirely still for several moments before a mischievous grin crossed his lips. "I got him!"

-Five Minutes Later-

Asuma didn't make a sound as he felt Ino release her possession on him, not even bothering trying to move as he felt the ninja wire binding him from the neck down while Naruto, Ino, and Choji stood over him with identical triumphant smiles. "Hm, looks like you three got me, guess that means you pass the test." He said with a grin, making the three cheer happily before jumping back in surprise as the man's bindings suddenly fell loose and he stood up without issue.

"Congratulations team 10, meet me here tomorrow at eight o'clock for training."

-End Chapter-

AN: I'll be honest, I mostly winged it with this chapter, so if it's bad I apologize. Just to clarify, I'm not bashing on Sakura or Ino in this chapter, just trying to be as accurate to their characters as possible. And to put bluntly, they were kinda pathetic at the start. I couldn't find anything that said if she did or didn't diet, so I'm assuming that Ino did diet like Sakura did in canon. Fun Fact on dieting, doing it at a young age can in fact lead to barrenness due to the lack of nutrients to help develop the womb.

Now, onto the fun part. I had an idea for Naruto having two separate nonhuman companions (animal,summon,monster, ect) but I haven't been able to decide which to choose which ones that would work without being overused, cheesy, or such. So I'm asking your guys for your opinion and/or suggestions. Then next chapter I will pick out the most commonly and the most unique suggestions to be the companions. Thank you for reading and please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 7-

-Last time-

 _Asuma didn't make a sound as he felt Ino release her possession on him, not even bothering trying to move as he felt the ninja wire binding him from the neck down while Naruto, Ino, and Choji stood over him with identical triumphant smiles. "Hm, looks like you three got me, guess that means you pass the test." He said with a grin, making the three cheer happily before jumping back in surprise as the man's bindings suddenly fell loose and he stood up without issue._

" _Congratulations team 10, meet me here tomorrow at eight o'clock for training."_

-And Now-

Naruto expected a lot of things when he finally became a fully-fledged ninja. He expected long adventure filled missions filled with fighting, saving lives, and having awesome adventures. He anticipated long hard training sessions where he struggled to learn new, badass techniques to make him a better ninja.

…he did NOT expect to be crouching in some civilian woman's garden pulling out weeds with his two teammates while said woman stood over their shoulders and telling him off for every little mistake. "I said get all of the weeds, that includes the roots. Oi, be careful with the petunias girl, I spent months cultivating them to perfection."

' _I freaking hate D-rank missions.'_ Naruto thought with a twitching eyebrow as he stuffed a handful of dandelions into a compost bin. He and his team had been stuck doing these thing for almost three weeks now and they were starting to get on his last nerve.

" _ **On that we agree, these things are nothing but a complete waste of time and my patience."**_ Artemis said as she massaged her forehead, these 'missions' were nothing more than glorified chores and a lot of the time the civilian hiring them whined and bitched about almost everything. The worst one in her opinion was catching that stupid cat Tora. She had felt every single scratch that Naruto had gotten and not even her natural affinity towards animals had been able to calm that stupid feline down.

' _At least the training makes up for it somewhat."_ Naruto thought. Throughout the three weeks Asuma had been drilling the three of them through various team and individual exercises while also teaching them to improve their chakra control with the Tree Climbing technique. This involved walking up a tree or vertical surface by channeling chakra to the bottom of your feet, too little and you wouldn't stick while too much would destroy the tree under our feet. ' _And don't forget we finally found a way for you to have your own body thanks to Ino and Asuma-sensei.'_

" _ **I'll admit that is a boon, there's hope for that girl yet."**_ Shortly after the test, Naruto was forced to explain his 'Split-Personality' to Choji and Ino thanks to Artemis's little appearance. While the chubby boy had trouble understanding, Ino was easily able to grasp the concept thanks to her having to study the human mind while learning her clan's techniques.

After a long and very personal series of questions that Naruto was forced to answer in order to get his fellow blonde to agree not to tell anyone about it, Ino had jokingly commented on getting Artemis her own body so she wouldn't have to deal with being stuck in Naruto's head. Instead of being insulted though, Naruto had grown curios about the idea and had asked Asuma if such a thing was possible.

He in turn had said that here might be one, but he had to run it past the Hokage first. Two days later, Naruto was the proud new user of the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu, a more complex and chakra intensive version of the Bunshin no Jutsu that made solid fully functional copies of the user. By making a single one of these, Naruto could allow Artemis to possess it and still remain in complete control of his own body. When she did this, Naruto would lose most of the silver flecks in his eyes and clone would automatically change to Artemis's true appearance.

The only downsides were that A. The clones tended to disperse after taking only a single hit so Artemis had to be extra careful and B. For some reason whenever Artemis did this, a thin golden chain would burst from the back of Naruto's neck and latch onto hers. Well, there was also the six hour shopping spree that Ino had forcefully dragged the both of them into to buy Artemis some new clothes, but the two had agreed never to mention that horrible experience ever again… so many dresses. *Shiver* Still, despite these drawbacks, Naruto had been none-the-less super happy to finally be able to meet his 'neechan' face to face for the first time and had given Ino a near back-breaking hug in thanks.

…His face still stung from the slapping she had given him in response, but he didn't mind one bit.

' _Still, hopefully Asuma-sensei will keep his word and we'll finally get to do a C-rank after this.'_ Naruto thought while digging his hands back into the soil with a grunt, sending a sidelong glance to said man as he leaned against a fence smoking.

" _ **As far as males go, he seems trustworthy enough. If not however, I will show him exactly how I earned the title of Huntress."**_ Artemis said, cracking her knuckles for added emphasis.

Naruto shivered slightly at the thought, remembering how effectively the goddess had tracked, killed, and butches an eight-hundred-pound bear during her promised hunting trip. He learned two things that day, bear-steak is awesome when grilled with barbeque sauce and he never wanted to be hunted by Artemis. ' _That might be taking it a little too far, don't you think?'_

The silence he received was all the answer he needed.

"Alright boys and girls, that's a wrap for today." Asuma's voice cut in as he rolled up a small scroll with the civilian woman's signature on it, said woman giving all three of them a distusting glare before marching back into her house. "Let's head over to the Mission Hall and we'll get that C-rank I promised you all."

"Finally, if I had to listen to that woman whine one more time I swear I was going to mind jump her and make her do the chicken dance in the market district." Ino grumbled while wiping fertilizer off her hands. "Those stupid flowers aren't even petunias their-"

"Calibrachoas, you'd think she'd know that with how much 'effort' she put in caring for them." Naruto cut in with equal annoyance as he stood up and dusted himself off. Noticing the long silence around him, he glanced around to see Ino staring at him in surprise. "What? Me and Arty-neechan like to garden, remember?"

The girl had enough decency to look sheepish at that, since he had even gone to her family shop on several occasions to buy certain plants and had even helped him with his not-so-little rooftop garden herself once. "Right, sorry." She mumbled as she dropped her gaze and they headed out.

Ino was still shocked on how much she was learning about her enigmatic blonde teammate. Ever since her first few weeks of going to the academy, she had always seen Naruto as a lazy, inattentive, hyperactive, loudmouthed idiot that was always causing trouble and so had naturally paid very little attention to him other than to use his crush on Sakura as teasing ammo against the pinkette. Now that she was literally forced to spend time with him however, she found the true meaning of the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover'.

Sure, Naruto was still a hyperactive knucklehead that tended to be overly exuberant, but he wasn't as stupid as she had thought, he just had trouble understanding things at first and sometimes needed it dumbed down a bit. He was also quite perceptive when it came to fighting, quickly coming up with on the fly and somewhat crazy plans that would somehow work… most of the time.

There were also the more sensitive things she had learned about him, such as the fact he was an orphan during said visit to his garden. That was something she really should have known already, given she had been in the same class as him for a few years now and she had never once seen any form of parental figure with him, but like previously stated she had never actually bothered to pay attention to him. It had also explained his lack of social skills and childish mannerisms since she doubted anyone had actually taken the time to teach him better.

Boy did she feel like a bitch after that, remembering all the times she had mocked him both openly and behind his back for such things. Especially when she figured that Artemis was most likely a result of his desperation towards having some kind of family, even if it was just imaginary. It was made a bit better when she met Shizune though when the apprentice stopped by to make sure he was taking his meds, some kind of sleep aids.

Ino was broken out of her thoughts as the Ninja Academy came into sight. Instead of walking in the main entrance though, the quartet took a left and headed towards a large doorway on the side that had a sign above it that said, 'Mission Hall'.

Stepping through, they were greeted by the Third Hokage as he, Iruka, and a couple of other ninja that they didn't know sorting through various scrolls and documents. Walking up to Iruka, Asuma handed him the scroll from earlier before turning towards Hiruzen with a slightly stiff bow. "Mission completed sir, and ready for a debrief on that C-rank I had requested yesterday."

Nodding his head, the elderly kage took a deep draw from his pipe while pulling out a scroll with the kanji for 'C-rank' across it in bold and handed it over. "Your mission is a joint mission with Team nine to the land of Kinoko. The ruling body there, Princess Momo has asked for assistance on dealing with her country's overpopulation of turtles."

"Seriously Jiji?" Naruto asked with a deadpan, ignoring the light slap Ino gave him for speaking informally. "You're sending us to go hunt turtles?"

"Well, that was the original plan but someone had other ideas." Hiruzen said with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Before Naruto could ask him what he meant, the door behind them suddenly slammed open. Looking back to see what the cause was, Naruto recoiled slightly at the sight of a tall muscular man wearing a skintight green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers with a bowl haircut and the biggest pair of eyebrows he had ever seen in his life.

"YOSH! Team Nine reporting for their duty of youthful saving the poor turtles of their most unyouthful fate Hokage-Sama!" The man yelled exuberantly while marching into the room, followed by an equally excited mini version of himself, an exasperated girl with her hair done up in two buns, and a stoic Hyuga boy who's twitching eyebrow was the only sign of his annoyance.

*Sigh* "Hello Gai-san, glad to see you're so excited to get going. There has been a slight change of plans however." Hiruzen said, getting the now named Gai to calm down slightly. "Asuma and Team Ten will joining you on your mission as a way to get themselves acquainted to missions outside the village. I assume you don't mind, correct?"

"Of course not Hokage-Sama! This just means I have the opportunity to help fan the flames of youth in these young genin alongside my own!" Gai yelled, while his mini-me cheered and the bun girl sighed in defeat.

"Good to hear. Off you go then, you have two hours to get ready before needing to depart." The Hokage said with a dismissive wave of his hand, getting the eight to leave. Once the door closed behind them, the elderly leader turned to Iruka with a raised eyebrow. "Not going to complain about them not being ready like you did with Team Seven?"

"No sir," He said while continuing to sort through scrolls. "Because unlike Team Seven, you're at least sending this team off with a more experience team as support."

"I guess that is fair enough."

-With Teams Nine and Ten-

"Alright you three, since this will be your first mission out of the village, each of you will have a member of Gai's team to help you get ready." Asuma said before grunting as Gai patted him roughly on the back.

"An excellent idea my youthful comrade!" Gai yelled boisterously with a laugh. "Lee, you go with the young lady!" The mini-me saluted with a cry of "Yosh!" before running off while a shivering Ino followed. "Neji, you help the big-boned lad!" The Hyuga scoffed with a reluctant nod of his head as he marched off with Choji in tow. "And Tenten, you'll-"

"I get it, come on blondie," The bun-girl said with a roll of her eyes while grabbing Naruto's arm and dragging him off. "We're going to my family's shop."

"Uh, why?" Naruto asked after pulling himself out of her grip with a grunt.

"To get you properly equipped, those empty sheaths aren't exactly going to intimidate anyone you know." Tenten stated while pointing to said sheaths around his waist.

"Oh, but I already got that covered." Naruto said while summoning the Dancing Lunar Blades into their holsters with a flash of silver light. At the same time, he pulled out the scroll he kept his bow and quiver and unsealed them for her to see. "See, I ju- Oi!" He exclaimed when the brunette swiped the daggers and began looking them over critically.

"These… these are amazing." Tenten muttered in awe, giving the blades a few test swings. "Perfectly balanced, no visible flaws, honed to just the right sharpness-"

"And not yours." Naruto cut in with annoyance as he unsummoned the knives with another flash and resealed his bow. "Ain't you ever heard of personal property befo- Hey?!" The boy yelled as Tenten grabbed him by the shoulders, hoisted him up to eye level, and pulled him uncomfortably close to her face.

"Where did you get those weapons? Who made them? Tell me!" She demanded excitedly. Instead of verbally answering, Naruto frowned deeply with a twitching eyebrow before tilting his head back and harshly ramming his forehead into hers. "GAH!"

' _Why is every girl I meet so freaking weird, dattebayo?'_ Naruto thought to himself as he landed back on his feet, watching the dazed girl carefully as she recovered.

 _ **"I would normally be insulted by that, if I wasn't wondering the exact same thing."**_ Artemis admitted with a sigh.

"Ow, ow, ow, what is your skull made out of?" Tenten asked slightly groggily while rubbing the rapidly growing red spot on her forehead. Shaking her head a few times to clear the ringing still echoing in her head, she looked back at the still annoyed looking blonde and smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry about that, weapons are my specialty and sometimes I can get a little… overly excited."

"No kidding," Naruto deadpanned, making the bun-haired girl laugh awkwardly. "Whatever, let's just get going." He said before gesturing for her to take the lead again. "…So does your shop happen to sell arrows?"

"Only the best!"

 _ **"I'll be the judge of that."**_

-End Chapter-

AN: The results of the Naruto's companions vote are in. Starting with the most commonly suggested one, the winner is a wolf by a landslide. As for the most uniquely suggested companion, well you guys have given quite a few such as a harpy, a phoenix, and even specific characters like Trico from the last guardian.

I had so much trouble deciding in the end that I just put them all into a hat and drew one and the winner was the Pocket-sized Lamia by a PMer who asked not to be mentioned by name. Thank you all for your suggestions and sorry if you are disappointed that yours wasn't picked.

And also, if anyone can catch the reference I put in this chapter I put in this chapter gets an Internet cookie. Thanks for reading and please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 8-

-Last Time-

 _"No kidding," Naruto deadpanned, making the bun-haired girl laugh awkwardly. "Whatever, let's just get going." He said before gesturing for her to take the lead again. "…So does your shop happen to sell arrows?"_

 _"Only the best!"_

 **"I'll be the judge of that** _."_

-And Now-

 _ **"I'll admit, these are some very high-quality arrows.**_ " Artemis said as Naruto twirled one of his newly purchased arrows between his fingers as he walked towards the front gate of Konoha.

' _Yeah, their certainly better than the ones you and me have been making.'_ Naruto thought, sticking the arrow back into his quiver.

 _"_ _ **What can I say, I'm the hunter, Hephaestus was the forger.**_ _"_ The moon goddess said with a shrug. Sure she could make arrows of her own when needed, but they would pale in quality to a true blacksmith's work. " _ **I just hope that discount you managed to negotiate was worth it.**_ " She said dully, earning herself a mental glare.

' _Don't you 'you' me, it was your idea.'_ Naruto thought with a sigh as he looked towards his walking companion. Tenten was completely oblivious to her surroundings as she examined several of Naruto's trick arrows at once with sparkles in her eyes. With Artemis's help, the blonde had managed to convince the bun-girl to give him half off in exchange for those arrows, the schematics on how to make them when they got back, and a few archery lessons since a bow was one of the few weapons she wasn't proficient in yet.

 _"_ _ **Really? Cause I distinctly remember you asking me for help on buying them.**_ "

' _I asked how many we should get since we didn't have much money, you're the one who suggested we try and get a discount.'_

" _ **…dammit."**_ Artemis grumbled when she realized she didn't have a counter argument for that while Naruto smirked victoriously. Before she had a chance to come up with one the trio finally arrived at their destination, the massive gates that acted as the main entrance to Konoha where the rest of both their teams were standing.

 __"Cutting it a bit close aren't you? We leave in one minute." Asuma said, being the first to spot the pair approaching.

"Sorry Entotsu-Sensei, we got a little… sidetracked." Naruto said blandly while glancing at Tenten, who had broken out of her little fangirl moment at last and quickly hid the arrows behind her with an innocent grin.

"…I see," Asuma said after a brief pause as he followed Naruto's gaze before shaking the odd sight off, besides he'd seen odder. "And did you make sure to grab your meds?"

"Uh duh sensei," Naruto said with a roll of his eyes as he fished out a small orange bottle from his pocket for the man to see, neither of them seeing Neji's narrowed eyes as he saw this out of the corner of his eye.

"Good, Gai we're ready to go." Asuma called to his fellow Jonin.

"Yosh! That's great! Now we can show the people of Kinoko our flames of youth!" The spandex wearing man yelled as he and Lee charged through the front gates, *Crackle* literally.

"Kami dammit Gai." Asuma groaned as he, Neji, Tenten, and the two guards standing by the gate palmed their faces at the gaping hole the excited duo had left behind before the two teams swiftly following after the excited duo. "Be ready for a rough few day's you three. Gai loves to make things into impromptu training sessions-"

"Asuma-san! Let us test how well your team is doing stamina wise! We'll cut down the journey from four days to two with the power of YOUTH!"

"…just like that." Asuma finished with a deadpan as a strong feeling of dread filled the three genin.

Meanwhile, one of the two guards raised his hand up to his ear with a sigh. "This is Izumo, we have a code green… again."

-Two days later-

"…so tired… my legs are killing me…" Naruto groaned, sweat pouring off of him as he trudged up a hill. Just like Gai had said, he had the two teams sprint the entire way while only stopping a handful of times to rest. It was only made worse as Naruto and Artemis's combined competitive nature made them keep pushing regardless.

"…I know… isn't it… so youthful?" Lee asked from beside the blonde, looking a bit better for wear but still pretty tired. Behind them Neji, Tenten, and Choji were badly winded themselves but not nearly as badly since they had paced themselves better. Finally, Ino had straight up passed out about an hour ago and was being carried by a still deadpanning Asuma while a sheepish Gai rubbed the back of his head.

"I… may have gone a little overboard with this youthful exercise." The spandex wearing man admitted with a chuckle as everyone but Lee gave him a glare that screamed 'No shit!'. "But on the bright side, we're here already." He said while gesturing to the town that came into view as the group reached the top of the hill.

"Welcome to Omocha, capital of the land of Kinoko and home of the best mushroom industry in all of the Elemental Nations." Said town was moderately sized, consisting of hundreds of houses with either red or green roofs with a small castle made of white marble with bright red roofing situated in the middle. The land outside the town was littered with dozens of farms that were filled with hundreds of varieties of mushrooms and a large forest.

"Gai, you and your team take Ino and get some hotel rooms booked for the night. The rest of us will go and speak with Princess Momo to inform her that we have arrived." The smoker said while handing the passed-out girl over to the exuberant man.

"You got it Asuma-san, then we can get on with our most youthful mission of saving those innocent turtles." Gai said with a wide grin, restraining himself from yelling so not to disturb Ino as she slept. With their plan decided, the two teams marched into Omocha at a sedate pace.

While they walked, the farmers working in the field stopped to stare at the new arrivals, each of them wearing protective straw hats that were painted red with white spots. " _ **Okay, this is getting ridiculous.**_ _"_ Artemis said suddenly, making Naruto jump slightly in surprise.

' _Is something wrong Arty-neechan?'_ He asked in confusion.

" _ **This entire place reminds me way too much of a game my brother Apollo would make me play with him whenever he dragged me along for family night.**_ " Artemis said, her eyes narrowed in mild suspicion. " _ **The mushroom theme, the red spotted hats, the castle, the turtle problem, even the princess's name for Zeus's sake. All that's missing are overly large green pipes and a short plumber wearing a red hat and blue overalls."**_

'… _Okay.'_ Naruto thought as he cautiously put some mental distance between himself and the ranting goddess while noting as Gai and his team broke off to find a hotel once they entered the actual town. ' _Great, Arty's going nuts again.'_

" _ **I heard that.**_ _"_

' _Oh kuso, bye!'_ Naruto thought hurriedly as he popped his focus back into the real world.

"You okay there squirt?" Asuma asked when he saw the spooked expression on the blonde's face.

"Huh? Oh, yeah Arty-neechan's just wants out soon." Naruto lied nervously, not wanting to make the goddess inside his gut any angrier.

' _I know that tone, wonder what he did to piss her off.'_ Asuma thought while pretending to buy the blonde's excuse. "Hmm, alright then, you can let her out once we officially get started on the mission. But you'll have to explain her presence to team nine."

"…You got it Entotsu-Sensei." Naruto said reluctantly, getting an encouraging pat on the shoulder from the man as he brought a cigarette up to his lips. As much as secrecy was a ninja's best friend, the blonde's condition wasn't something that you could just spring on your comrades. It was better for him to get it out now rather than them accidentally stumble on it and come up with the wrong conclusion. Choji was content to remain silent as he happily munched away on a kabob of roasted mushrooms that he'd bought from a stand as they were walking.

It only took a few minutes to arrive at the center of Omocha where the castle was and were approaching the front gates when a man in his late thirties, likely a guard based on his armor and weapons, got in their path. "Halt strangers! Who are you and why do you approach the home of the royal family?"

"Easy there. We're shinobi from Konohagakure, we're here to fulfill a mission request sent by Princess Momo." Asuma said, pulling out the mission scroll and unrolling it for the guard to see the signature on the bottom.

Looking at it closely, the guard remain silent for several moments before nodding his head in approval and stepping back to his original position. "That's my lady's handwriting alright. The throne room is straight ahead. Don't cause any trouble."

"You got it guard-san." Asuma said with a bow as he and the two genin past him. As the trio walked down the marble tiled pathway, Naruto and Artemis couldn't help but admire the gardens they passed along the way. While they weren't stuffed to the brim with exotic and rare plants like one would expect with most royalty, the few that were there were clearly well taken care of alongside the various local and common species.

" _ **This princess has a good taste, I always hated those overly extravagant messes that royalty called gardens.**_ " Artemis said as they reached the main entrance, a large reinforced wooden door with a stained-glass window depicting a blonde woman wearing a pink dress with a sun in the background. " _ **Even Aphrodite found most of them to be obnoxious and her entire temple was entirely hot pink.**_ "

' _That sounds like it would be painful to look at,'_ Naruto thought, his eyes squinting slightly just imagining such a thing.

" _ **It is, but not nearly as bad as Apollo's. He made his entirely out of gold and has it waxed every six hours.**_ " Artemis said with a grimace. " _ **If even a single tiny ray of light strikes that building the whole thing lights up almost as bright as his chariot."**_

' _Right, because he is the god of the sun and all that jazz.'_ Naruto thought with a roll of his eyes, unknowingly upsetting one of the guards as he entered the castle while another spoke with his sensei. After yet another sowing of the mission scroll, they were allowed to pass and one of the guards led them inside.

" _ **Believe what you want, you'll soon see the truth of my words once I'm out of this… Oh that's it, this is just getting ridiculous.**_ " Artemis suddenly said midsentence as they passed through the main hall and finally arrived at the throne room. Said throne was raised several feet above them, made of a polished golden bronze with plush red cushions.

The reason for the goddess's annoyance however, was of the young woman currently seated upon the expensive chair. She looked to be in her mid-teens and was wearing a dark pink kimono with white highlights, a small golden necklace with a large sapphire in the middle, and tiny cup-sized crown situated slightly crookedly on her head as she sat slightly slouched. Her hair reached down to her back in long messy locks of gold that gave Naruto's a run for its money while her eyes were a soft baby blue that held a look of boredom until they locked onto the newcomers.

Glancing up at the engraved headbands on their foreheads, a smile crossed her lips and she quickly sat up. "Oh my, you wouldn't happen to be the ninjas I asked for already?" She asked, her voice soft with a slight musical quality to it.

"That we are, Princess Momo. I am Asuma and these are two of my students Naruto and Choji." Asuma said as he bowed with Choji following his example while Naruto simply waved tiredly with a big smile, getting the princess to blink in surprise before giggling slightly as Choji pulled her fellow blonde into a bow. "Though most of our group is currently in town finding us a place to stay for the night."

"Ah yes, wouldn't want you all sleeping out in the cold after all." Momo said with a nod. "Though I must admit that I am surprised at your presence, my courier said not to expect you for another day at least. I see that the tales of Konoha's high service quality isn't exaggerated as much as I thought."

"We do aim to please, your highness." Asuma said with a shrug, getting the princess to giggle again. "If it isn't too much of a bother though, would you mind giving us a more detailed explanation of the assignment you've hired us for? The mission request just said you needed help dealing with an overpopulation of turtles."

"Of course," Momo said with a nod of her head. "In this country, the turtle is revered for it's strong yet peaceful nature. So much so that I f we weren't already known as the land of Kinoko, we would certainly be called the land of Kame. It is even a bit of a tradition for families to have at least one turtle living with them in their home."

"And I'm guessing because of this worship, the turtles were overprotected and ended up breeding out of control?" Asuma asked, only to blink in mild surprise when the princess shook her head.

"No, my people are well aware of the possible damage that could be done to our ecosystem from such recklessness after an incident like that twenty years ago. Besides, turtle meat is our second-best export." She said with a shrug before returning to proper posture.

"Then how did you end up with your current problem?"

At this question, Momo sighed deeply while rubbing her forehead. "That would be thanks to one of my more… zealous advisors, Kemak." She said in an annoyed tone. "That old goat was obsessed with continuing with the old ways, always ranting on how the gods would have their revenge and such. He only calmed down slightly when I granted him a patch of land on the outskirts of Omocha to act as his own 'turtle sanctuary' a year ago."

"But…" Asuma added as the young woman sighed again.

"But he went too far. Somehow that fool managed to both collect and breed several thousand turtles on the property in a short time." As she spoke, Momo signaled to a servant across the room who promptly brought a small envelope that he handed to Asuma. Checking its contents, the smoking man let out a low whistle at the series of pictures inside showing literal rivers of turtles waddling across barren ground.

"We only found out a week ago when Kemak passed away from a heart attack and the critters spread out in search of food. My people have been trying to deal with the problem, but there are just too many of them and it's the middle of harvest season."

"Limiting your manpower even more and thus leading you to hire us." Asuma finished for the princess, getting her to nod. "Well then, worry no more your highness. Me and my companions will be sure to make short work of this little issue. *Thump* Though we will apparently have to wait until tomorrow to start." Asuma said with a chuckle as he looked down at Naruto's snoozing form, the whiskered boy's exhaustion having finally caught up to him.

"It would appear so," Momo said, a hand rising up to her lips as she giggled at the sight.

-The next day-

"Seven hundred and eleven, Seven hundred and twelve, Seven hundred and thirteen, Seven hundred and fourteen… Man, there really is no end to these guys is there?' Naruto asked rhetorically as he picked up a small brownish green turtle with red stripes around its eyes, petting its head while he placed it in the barrel that was strapped to his hip. The midday sun streamed through the leaves of the trees as he hunched over as he trudged through the marshy area he was in.

"That they are," Artemis agreed from about two feet to his left, scratching at the chain sticking out the back of her neck in mild annoyance as she swiftly scooped several of the reptiles up at once with the other without stopping, her oddly enough bare feet sinking a bit into the muddy ground.

' _Why can't I have any regular people as friends?'_ Tenten wondered as she placed a trio of filled buckets on the back of a tortoise that was half as tall as she was before both vanished in a puff of smoke. After a good night's rest, Gai and Asuma had come up a simple but effective plan to finish the mission.

They divvied everyone up into three groups, Choji and Ino with Lee, Neji with Gai and Asuma, and Naruto with Tenten. Then, Gai gave both the other groups temporary summon scrolls for his tortoise contract to use to transport the turtles away from their 'Unyouthful doom'. When the bun-girl questioned why only she was being teamed up with the whiskered blonde, Naruto had reluctantly revealed Artemis's existence with some encouragement from said goddess and his sensei.

Naturally, some members of team nine *Cough* Neji *Cough* refused to believe him at first, at least they did until Naruto created a shadow clone and Artemis possessed it. After recovering from their shock, and staring at the duo for an uncomfortably long time with an active Byakugan, the group reacted accordingly.

Gai had patted Naruto on the back, accidently causing the boy to faceplant with the inn floor, and yelled something about having double the flames of youth, not really affected as he had already known of the boy's condition with doing pretty much the same. Neji had huffed and muttered something about fate and losers before going back to his regular stoicism, though Artemis noted the way he always kept her within his peripherals.

Tenten on the other hand had simply gained a look of resignation as she realized that yet another person she was to associate with was not as normal as she hoped. ' _Still, at least this beats Gai and Lee's constant youth moments.'_ She thought with a shiver as she grabbed an empty barrel and got back to work.

"I can see why these guys are such popular pets." Naruto said, smiling as he carefully picked up a baby turtle barely bigger than his thumb was wide. "They are kinda cute."

"Not all of them," Artemis grunted out while holding up an old turtle that was hissing and snapping viciously at her.

"Better toss that one, he might attack the others." Tenten said, getting a nod from the auburn girl who was moving to do just that when an ominous cracking noise made her and the others freeze.

"Uh, what was thaaAAAAAAA!" Naruto's question changed to a scream as the ground under his and Artemis suddenly collapsed, revealing a wide cavernous chamber underneath them.

"Naruto!? Artemis!?" Tenten cried out in shock as she saw the two sudden vanish into the earth, swiftly followed by heavy crash, a pair of pained cries, and a puff of smoke signaling Artemis's dispelling. Rushing to the edge of the newly formed hole, the bun-haired girl couldn't help but wince at the sight of Naruto's half-buried form.

"Owwwwww… Hey Ten-chan, I think I found something," Naruto groaned in pain, but still lucid enough thankfully to take notice of the fact that that cavern wasn't naturally made. Not unless computers, cages, and light fixtures grew underground.

"Hold on Naruto! I'llgo signal the others real quiIIIIK!" Tenten shrieked as she unfortunately got to close and the ground also crumbled under her before she could react…

*Crash!* "…Owwww." "Sorry." And ended up landing right on Naruto.

-End Chapter-

AN: Momo: Japanese for Peaches. Kinoko: Mushrooms. Having a turtle problem. I'm honestly surprised no one caught this last chapter. Now, before anyone complains or whines about this, I put this in here for a very specific reason and even put in hints on what that reason is in this chapter. If you can figure it out then you win an internet cookie. Thank you for reading and please review.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

PS: From now on, whenever Artemis speaks using Naruto's mouth it'll look " _Like this."_

-Chapter 9-

 _"Owwwwww… Hey Ten-chan, I think I found something," Naruto groaned in pain, but still lucid enough thankfully to take notice of the fact that that cavern wasn't naturally made. Not unless computers, cages, and light fixtures grew underground._

 _"Hold on Naruto! I'llgo signal the others real quiIIIIK!" Tenten shrieked as she unfortunately got too close and the ground also crumbled under her before she could react…_

 _*Crash!* "…Owwww." "Sorry." And ended up landing right on Naruto._

-And Now-

' _Why can't I ever have anything I'm doing go like planned? Is that too much to ask for just one time?'_ Naruto wondered as he lay half-buried in rock and a certain bun-haired girl currently using his gut as a landing pad.

"Are you alright Naruto?" Tenten asked as she quickly climbed off her orange garbed companion and began moving the rubble that he was partially buried in.

"Ugh, been better," Naruto said with a grimace, a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face from a cut on his forehead while one of his hands weakly held his stomach where the bun-haired girl landed. ' _What about you Arte-nee?'_

 _ **"Annoyed but fine."**_ The goddess of the hunt said huffed out, not happy about being sent back into her confinement prematurely. " _ **Now where in Tartarus are we?"**_

"That's a good question," Naruto mumbled with a grunt as Tenten pulled him to his feet and he managed to get a good look at his surroundings. "I don't remember annoying creepy underground rooms in the mission description."

"That's the life of a ninja for you. You should always expect the unexpected." Tenten said, getting Naruto to nod in agreement before they both turned their gazes to the ceiling at least two stories above them, or more specifically the hole they had fallen through.

" _The ground is too unstable to go back that way, attempting so would most likely result in a cave in. We'll have to find another way out."_ Artemis said through Naruto. Her words were punctuated by an ominous crumbling sounds followed by some small stones and dust falling from above.

"Alright, I'll send a message to… Kuso!" Tenten swore as she reached for the summoning scroll she'd been carrying, only to come up with a useless piece of ripped up parchment. "Looks like we're on our own."

"Let's look around then. There should be another way out of here cause I'm pretty sure that wasn't the front door." Naruto said while he dusted himself off, getting Tenten to laugh a little before they started to explore.

Unfortunately for them, they never noticed the same grumpy turtle Artemis had been holding earlier wiggling helplessly upside-down as a florescent green liquid from a broken test tube poured all over it.

As they looked around the place, all three of them kept their guards up in case there was any additional nasty surprises waiting for them. However, it didn't take long for their caution to be subsided by an overwhelming amount of intrigue and curiosity at what they were finding. Several computers were set up all over the place, either displaying large amounts of technical gibberish that none of them could make heads or tails of, or hooked up to large glass containment units that held several different types of reptiles such as lizards, snakes, and of course turtles.

…At least, some of them held those.

The majority contained horribly deformed and disturbingly humanoid looking and sized creatures or giant eggs as large as a child that were either half hatched or dissected open to show the monstrosity within. "By Kami, who would do something like this?" Tenten wondered, shivering as they passed by a particularly disgusting container. Its content looked like a horribly injured man who had two tiny hands bursting out of his stomach, a mouth that took up over half the face filled with dozens of jaded teeth, and two large limbs sticking out of its back that ended in large bone scythes.

"I have no idea, and I pretty sure don't want to." Naruto said with a green face as he saw another man who's entire chest cavity, lower jaw, and stomach were missing and had a disfigured snake head for an arm. "I'm just glad these things are dead." Each canister had a life support monitor and number ID on the side of it, with every single one flatlined.

" _ **By Zeus, this place makes Hades's domain look like a spring paradise.**_ " Artemis muttered in, utterly horrified at the sick and demented twisting of life. " _I'm guessing this was Kemak's doing. The princess said he'd been absolutely insistent on having the sanctuary set up and that no one but he go on it…"_

"And this just happens to be within the property limit." Tenten finished, getting what the goddess was getting at. "He probably used the turtle fanaticism as a ruse to keep this place under wraps. But still, why would he do all of this?"

Spotting something in the corner of his eye, Naruto turned his head towards the source before pointing. "Maybe those will tell us."

Looking in the direction he was gesturing too, Tenten found herself looking at a moderately sized alcove where a large workbench that was covered with various notebooks, papers, and a small glass box. "That's convenient… too convenient." She said with narrowed eyes while reaching into her weapon pouch and pulling out a trio of kunai.

Acting fast, she tossed them at the table before tackling a surprised Naruto behind a container holding a giant lizard with a human face.

*Thunk, thunk, thunk*

…

…

…

"Huh, guess it wasn't a trap after all." Tenten said as she lifted head up and looked through the glass to see that nothing had happened at all. "That or it has a more complicated trigger mechanism, possible a pressure plate or…"

"Get. Off." Tenten was broken from her thoughts as she heard Naruto's muffled words under her. Remembering that she was still on top of the him, she glanced down to apologise while getting up… and rapidly developed a bright blush on her face. In her rush to avoid the trap she had expected to be triggered, the bun-haired had forgotten the fact that her companion was easily a head shorter than her, so when she tackled him to the ground the whiskered blonde ended up with an unexpected face full of developing teenage breasts.

' _Must resist dirty thoughts… must resist dirty thoughts...'_ Naruto repeated in his head desperately with a twitching eyebrow as Tenten quickly climbed off of him, only for his brain to keep replaying the moment and a small trickle of blood to run down one of his nostrils. ' _DAMN IT!'_

" _ **If it wasn't for the fact I was in here, I would think you were somehow setting these accidents up somehow.**_ _"_ Artemis said with a facepalm.

"Ehem, sorry about that… let's, let's just go look at what's on the table." Tenten said awkwardly, quickly changing the subject as she stood up hurried over to the said place.

"Yeah, sounds good," Naruto said, wiping his nose clean as he got back up and followed after her. Keep a cautious eye out for any possible traps, the duo approached the table where Tenten pulled her Kunai free and put them away before they slowly started going through the various different documents and sheets.

And boy were the contents unpleasant.

 _Specimen 11: Formula A-03. Subject was stabile during incubation, but shortly after hatching experienced rapid cellular death and molecular instability that resulted in accelerated aging and organ failure. Further study revealed the cause to be a compatibility failure between the crevice snake and lake gecko DNA. Kabuto-san was most displeased with this but refrained from punishing me this time for my failure._

 _Specimen 67: Formula D-52. Subject perished during third week of incubation. Autopsy revealed that the embryotic sac had mutated into a cellular structure similar to the human digestive track that resulted in the subject being dissolved by the extreme acidity. The cause was revealed to be due to human tissue sample being contaminated with bacterial growth. Need to request new samples during Kabuto-sans next review period._

 _Specimen 294: Formula G-10. Subject prematurely hatched during eighth week of incubation due to the unexpected mutation of massive clawed forelimbs. Despite this, the partially developed fetus survived an impressive two hours and thirty-five minutes before perishing. Unable to identify the cause of mutation at this time. Despite this, Kabuto-san was highly pleased with the results during his monthly review._

 _Specimen 300: Formula J-117. Subject successfully went through full incubation and survived an astonishing three weeks before finally perishing due to sudden respiratory failure. My theory of integrating avian DNA has paid off. Autopsy on the subject revealed the cause of death to simply be the common flu virus as the subject hadn't developed a proper immune system yet. In light of this success, Kabuto-san has requested a fully developed live subject to be transported to the labs in the Land of Rice Paddies. Unknown at this time on how to accomplish this task without breaking cover._

With each report they read, the looks of disgust and revulsion on both Naruto and Tenten's faces grew. Whoever wrote these made sure to put down every single detail they could, including how many 'successful' minutes they survived and how violent or gruesome the deaths of the 'subject' was. Putting them aside, Naruto grabbed the glass box with curiosity. It looked just like the rest of the containment chambers, only smaller and more portable version, lacking the aforementioned life monitor, and the number 301 etched hastily on the side.

While he was focused on this, Tenten had switched to the journals."Ugh, Artemis was right, Kemak was the one who used this place. He was trying to develop a formula that would give someone the perfect blend of reptilian abilities." She said as she flipped through several pages before pausing on one in particular. "Worse yet, he had the support of a hidden village. Though it must be pretty new cause I've never heard of Otogakure or this Kabuto before."

When her statement was met with silence, the weapon addict glanced up to see Naruto holding the container up to the light as he looked closely at the perfectly white fist sized egg that it contained. "What is that?"

" _Don't know, but whatever it is, it's still alive,"_ Artemis said with narrowed eyes as she and Naruto saw a faint outline of the creature wiggling within its shell prison. _"And ready to hatch_."

"Okay, I've seen enough horror movies to know how this goes. Do not let that thing out of sight while I seal these up, there is no way we're leaving this." Tenten said with dead seriousness as she pulled out some blank scrolls and ink. Neither Naruto or Artemis argued with her as they kept their eyes firmly on the unusual egg.

It only took the brunette a minute or so to seal away the clutter of paperwork and to stuff the finished scrolls into her equipment pouch. In that time though, the cavern around them shook again, though much more violently than before.

"Let's get the hell out of here, this place is ready to fall apart." She said, getting a nod from the blonde as he was about to put the box back down only for Tenten to stop him. "Keep it, I'd rather not risk whatever it is possibly getting out when this place crumbles." Seeing her point, Naruto tucked the container under his left arm carefully before they both sprinted off.

" _ **This is what you get for building a base like this under a marshland without any kind of support structure. I can just imagine Athena ranting about the stupidity of it now.**_ " Artemis said with a nostalgic sigh as the place shook once more, before shaking her head suddenly with a look of confusion. ' **What in Tartarus? Why do I suddenly feel… sad all of a sudden?** '

So lost in her thoughts, she didn't even notice as her 'host' and his partner found finally found a way out in the form of a stone staircase built into one of the walls. This in turn led to a large stone wall that held a complex looking seal that Tenten identified as a user specific chakra lock while slapping several explosive tags over it then dragging Naruto behind cover as the papers ignited.

Artemis only snapped her from her thoughts when the resulting blast caused her to fall over in her prison with a splash. " _ **What the hell was that?**_ " She demanded as she got up, ignoring the muffled snickering of the fox behind her as she shook water off of herself.

' _Tenten blasting the exit open, duh.'_ Naruto thought back with a raised eyebrow. ' _How could you have missed that?'_

" _ **...The seal tightened up a bit and I was cut off briefly.**_ " The moon goddess lied, making Naruto nod in acceptance.

' _The fox tried something?'_ Naruto asked, his mental voice shaking slightly as he spoke of the beast he held. The truth had been revealed to him shortly after Tsunade had 'diagnosed' Artemis, as the Third had figured there was a very likely chance that the trapped Olympian would end up telling him about it anyway.

The revelation had been pretty hard on the enigmatic blonde and Naruto had spent several days in an unresponsive state of denial. It had taken Shizune, Iruka, and Hiruzen combined efforts to both get him to accept his condition and believe that he wasn't the fox itself turned human or other such malarkey.

Anyway, back to the present, Artemis simply a short " _ **Yes**_ ," before falling silent again as she contemplated her compulsive reaction, though this time making sure to stay aware of her surroundings.

Stepping through the still smoking gap that had been created, Naruto and Tenten found themselves inside a small sparsely decorated room with a plain futon, a kitchenette, and a sliding door that had been knocked off its hinges to reveal the marshy outside with hundreds of turtles milling about and the hillside the building was attached to.

' _Must be the weirdo's home,'_ Naruto thought as he took a brief glance around, spotting several turtle-based trinkets and such lying around in random places as they walked outside.

"Let's head back to Omocha, we need to report this to the princess and our senseis right away." Tenten said while patting her equipment pouch.

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Naruto asked rhetorically before jumping up into the canopy and tree-hopping away.

"Oi! Wait for me!" The weapon fanatic called after him as she rushed to catch up.

After they left, the tremors settled down again and a calm silence filled the area. Birds started to return to their perches, tweeting their songs to each-other while the turtles on the forest floor continued to waddle about in search of food.

The peace was swiftly shattered again not even a minute later though when yet another quake shook through the area, this time followed with a series of large spiderweb cracks that spread across the earth rapidly. The land then started sinking down as the weight of the earth was no longer able to support itself.

Just before it could fully collapse though, and in turn bury the lab underneath along with it's horrific contents, something suddenly burst through the ground. Whatever had done this was mostly from view by the resulting cloud of smoke and dirt, with only a hulking shadow roughly thirty feet tall in view alongside a glowing orange eye full of bloodlust, and insanity.

"RAAAAAA-"

-With Naruto and Tenten-

"-AAAAAH!"

Both genin stopped in their tracks as the powerful roar reached their ears, making the hair on the back of their necks stand up as a literal wave of malice washed over them. Turning around, they were only just able to catch sight of the massive dust cloud that had formed behind them before they were forced to jump out of the way of a massive torrent of fire that completely obliterated everything in its path.

Unfortunately, Naruto hadn't managed to react in time to escape unscathed and his right arm was ever so briefly engulfed by the passing inferno, roasting off the sleeve of his jacket in seconds and scorching the skin underneath. Crying out in agony, the pain caused him to lose focus on his surroundings and he ended up harshly smashing into the branch he'd been aiming for. The force of the impact snapped the branch with ease, sending him tumbling through the underlying canopy until he hit the muddy ground below with a *Splat*.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, just as he slowly lifted his head up to see something massive and reptilian crashing through the incinerated landscape and towards the village, the case he'd been carrying landing on his head with a cracking sound before landing in the mud next to him completely unharmed with its contents intact.

-End Chapter-

AN: This was originally going to be part of last chapter, but I ended up not liking what I had originally planned to happen and doing an overhaul on the whole segment while posting the first half. If you are a dedicated reader of this story, then I'm pretty sure you already figured out what is in the egg Naruto has and those that haven't will probably feel like kicking themselves when they do. Also, there are seven different Easter egg references to different shows, games, ect. Internet cookie to whomever can find them all. Thank you for reading and please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 10-

-Last Time-

 _Unfortunately, Naruto hadn't managed to react in time to escape unscathed and his right arm was ever so briefly engulfed by the passing inferno, roasting off the sleeve of his jacket in seconds and scorching the skin underneath. Crying out in agony, the pain caused him to lose focus on his surroundings and he ended up harshly smashing into the branch he'd been aiming for. The force of the impact snapped the branch with ease, sending him tumbling through the underlying canopy until he hit the muddy ground below with a *Splat*._

 _Then, as if to add insult to injury, just as he slowly lifted his head up to see something massive and reptilian crashing through the incinerated landscape and towards the village, the case he'd been carrying landing on his head with a cracking sound before landing in the mud next to him completely unharmed with its contents intact._

-And Now, five minutes later-

"…Uhh…" Naruto groaned weakly before coughing out a mouthful of mud as he tried to push himself up, only to collapse as a massive amount of pain shot through both his arm and head alongside a heavy wave of nausea. "…wha …wha haffened?" He asked with a heavy slur.

" _ **You almost got roasted alive and then knocked out.**_ _"_ Artemis said in a calm tone, though with no small amount of concern. " _ **I'm channeling as much energy as I can into your injuries to bolster your regeneration, but it's going to take a while. Healing was never specialty.**_ "

"…thanths Arthy-nee… I'll ust lay here… and resth…" Naruto mumbled as his eyes started to droop shut, only to flutter back open as something grabbed his uninjured arm and flipped him over.

"Oh thank Kami, I finally found you. Naruto! Naruto, can you hear me?!" A familiar voice asked as a slender hand gently patted his cheek.

"Then-shan?" Naruto asked back as his blurry vision focused in on the bun-haired girl standing over him.

"Yeah, that's right," Tenten said with a small sigh of relief, before grimacing as she took in her companion's condition. His arm was covered in various third and second-degree burns and an alarming amount of blood covered his head and the ground around it. Thankfully the burns didn't seem to be too much of an issue as a soft silver glow started to emanate from them before they began to gradually shrink.

His head on the other hand, was much worse and the weapon specialist visibly recoiled after taking a closer look at the source. There was a visible dent on top of his head, with small bits of bone mixed around with the torn-up flesh. Like the burns, a small amount of Artemis's power, though much more concentrated than around the burns, was seeping into it, gradually repairing the damaged tissue and bone.

Shaking off her shock, Tenten reached down and picked Naruto up bridal style, making Naruto hiss out as the movement caused his head to throb and a bit of bile to rise in his throat. "Sorry Naruto."

"Ith fine Ten-shan," Naruto said as his head drooped against her chest, his slur a little bit better. "Let'sh get going, I thinth that thing was heashing for Omocha."

"Yeah, it was." Tenten said while turning around and looking at the trial of destruction that had been left in the creature's wake. "Hold on." She told him before they both vanished in a blur of movement.

Thanks to Tenten and Artemis's attention focused solely on Naruto's injuries, and the blonde himself too concussed to think of much else, none of them noticed the broken case lying on the ground or the pieces of eggshell and glass that lead to where Naruto had been laying.

It took almost ten minutes of non-stop sprinting for the pair to reach the village, at which point Naruto had recovered enough to stand on his two feet. Dropping down at the edge of the woods, both were met with the sight of a giant bipedal turtle with vibrant yellow skin with glowing green veins branching out everywhere.

Giant spikes easily as large as a human covered the back of its massive shell, and its beak-like mouth was chock full of razor sharp teeth that glinted menacingly. Flames and smoke billowed around it as it stomped through Omocha, multiple building shaving been crushed, shattered, or set aflame.

" _ **OH COME THE FUCK ON! NOW THERE'S A CHAOS DAMNED BOWSER?!**_ " Artemis yelled, making Naruto flinch as the sheer volume caused his still present headache to skyrocket.

"Dynamic Entry!" Gai's voice screamed out as he suddenly shot into the air and struck the now dubbed Bowser's face with a flying kick, making it stumble back a few steps. At the same time, Asuma zipped around the giant turtle's feet, slashing at every inch he could reach with his now glowing trench knives as he passed.

Sadly, neither of their attacks did much as the smoking Jonin's blades barely made a scratch in the Bowser's thick hide and it easily shrugged off Gai's kick. Roaring in anger, it retaliated with a powerful swipe that the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha barely dodged, leaving the hopefully empty structure he had been standing on to get utterly obliterated.

"Whoa!" "Gah!" Naruto and Tenten exclaimed as they were almost knocked down by the force of the attack causing the entire area to shake.

" _ **And it's just as brutally strong, perfect.**_ " Artemis said with a grimace.

' _Hey, since you seem to know so much about this thing, how about a way to beat it?'_ Naruto asked as he readied his bow and Tenten pulled out several kunai.

" _ **Well, since there isn't a fire flower nearby or a bottomless cliff to trick it into, let me think.**_ " Artemis muttered sarcastically, " _ **I'd suggest either aiming for the eyes or hitting it with something that makes a really big bang, preferably both if you can manage it."**_

"Tenten, you have any more explosive tags?" Naruto asked, his response coming in the form of a large stack of red and white papers with the kanji 'Explode' on them being handed to him. "Thanks."

Taking a couple of the deceptively dangerous papers, he drew a plain arrow and wrapped the tags around it while Tenten did the same to her knives. "You do know that these will probably only piss that thing off, right?"

"That's the idea." Naruto said while nocking the arrow and lining up his shot, though his normally steady hands were trembling slightly.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Tenten muttered with a sigh as she took aim as well.

-With Gai and Asuma-

"Kuso, we aren't even tickling it." Asuma swore as he skidded to a stop beside Gai, his breath coming in short ragged gasps and a bit of blood dripping from his side where a claw had grazed him earlier.

"This most unyouthful beast is powerful, that is for sure." Gai agreed, his usual boisterous and cheerful attitude replaced with one of complete seriousness. His body was covered in bruises and scratches while his normally tan skin was a deep red with veins bulging visibly and a greenish aura surrounded his body, a sign that he was using his signature technique the Eight Celestial Gates. "But we must not let that stop us, we need to at least hold it off long enough for our youthful students to get the civilians clear."

Their original plan when the monster had shown up was for the two to keep it distracted while their students got the civilians to safety so that the Jonin could really let loose. This proved easier said than done however, as the giant turtle was soon to reveal that it had not only an extremely high durability but also an immense amount of strength to back it up and a startling amount of speed for a creature of its bulk.

"I'm open to suggestions." Asuma said, getting ready to move again when his ears picked up a soft but familiar whistling sound. ' _Wait, isn't that…'_

Before he could complete his thought, an arrow and several kunai flew into sight. Sailing through the air, they struck against the beasts' head and exploding, with the Kunai hitting the skin covering its ear canal and the arrow hitting just below the left eye.

"RAAHHH!" Roaring angrily, Bowser and the two Jonin whipped their heads towards the direction the projectiles came from to see Naruto and Tenten who were quickly booking it.

' _Oh thank Kami they're alright.'_ The men thought with relief, having been worried sick about the missing duo (trio including Artemis) ever since they didn't return to town on the agreed upon time. That worry had only increased ten-fold after the monstrosity they were fighting arrived from the same zone they had been assigned to.

Their relief was only short lived however, as Bowser roared again before turning around fully and charging.

"Okay, we pissed it off. Now what?" Tenten asked nervously as the beast started bearing down on them.

"We keep it distracted until we find a way to beat it, _Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!" Hundreds of clones puffed into existence around the pair, each one giving a loud battle cry before they charged towards Bowser. Naruto moved to join them, only for his body to suddenly seize up, making him start to collapse until Tenten caught him.

" _ **What do you think you're doing?**_ " Artemis demanded as she used all of what little control she had to briefly stop Naruto from moving.

 _'Helping stop the giant turtle from destroying everything.'_ Naruto thought with confusion as he tried to rest back control of his body, which was much harder than it normally was as his headache made it difficult to concentrate.

" _ **By blindly charging at it in your state? You can barely walk straight right now, by Zeus it's a miracle you are walking at all. Not to mention your aim is almost completely shot.**_ " Artemis said, sweat dripping down her forehead as mini chains burst from the ground and restrained her, severing her control.

 _'I'm fine Arty-nee,'_ Naruto told her as he stood back up. ' _Trust me, I won't do anything… too stupid.'_

" _ **That statement does not fill me with any confidence."**_

Naruto didn't respond as he tuned back into the real world, and saw that already almost all of his clones had been destroyed already. Shrugging off the concerned look that Tenten was giving him, Naruto made more clones, but instead charging like their predecessors had the copies of the whiskered blonde readied their bows and fired as many arrows as possible at Bowser.

Most did nothing more than bounce or shatter harmlessly upon impact, but a few managed to dig into the softer patches of skin around the neck and joints while spools upon spools of ninja wire unraveled all over it. While nowhere near strong enough to stop Bowser, they did manage to trip it up some, thus slowing it down long enough for Naruto and Tenten to get the hell out of dodge.

Sprinting around it as it struggled with the metal cables, they made it about halfway around before being cut off by Asuma. "Naruto, Tenten, glad to see you two are okay…ish." The smoker said, trailing off a little when he got a closer look at their battered forms, mostly Naruto's still healing arm and blood/mud-stained head.

"You too Entotsu-Sensei," Naruto said with a quick joking salute. "Where's everyone else?"

"YOOOOOOOOUTH!" Gai screamed as he hit Bowser with a devastating uppercut that sent the off-balance turtle tumbling over with a heavy *Thud*, inadvertently crushing the remaining clones underneath it.

"Their still in the village evacuating the civies, you two go help them while me and Gai deal with this thing." Asuma said.

"But Entotsu-Sensei, we can help with the Bowser." Naruto argued, earning himself a pair of weird looks from the man and Tenten for the name. "…Arty-Nee called it that."

"Look Naruto, now isn't the time for this. I am your leader and ordering you to help with the evac. Am I clear?" Asuma said sternly with a glare that made Naruto recoil before drooping his head in acceptance.

"Yes Sensei," He mumbled before sprinting off towards Omocha with Tenten.

Waiting until they were out of hearing range, Asuma sigh slightly with a frown. He didn't like acting harsh like that, but it was necessary as he didn't want any of his students to get hurt by trying to take on something that was clearly out of their league.

"GAH!" *Crash* Speaking of which, Asuma hopped out of the way as his fellow Jonin crashed into the spot he had been standing when Bowser managed to get a lucky hit on him.

"You alright Gai?"

"Yosh... for such an unyouthful creature… it certainly packs a most youthful punch."

"I'll take that as a yes."

-With Naruto and Tenten-

Arriving at the destroyed part of the village, Naruto once again spammed out several clones which began scouring the whole place for anyone. "I'll meet up with the others and keep looking with your clones, you check the castle and make sure Princess Momo is alright." Tenten said, getting a nod from the whiskered blonde before they split up.

' **Smart girl,** ' Artemis thought, easily seeing Tenten's underlying reasoning. The castle was the farthest place from the fight and the naturally most fortified, meaning it would be the safest place to be at the moment. She was getting Naruto somewhere safe under the guise of helping the princess. ' **Definitely need to recruit her once I'm out of these chains.** '

' _Sorry Naruto,'_ Tenten thought, feeling bad for tricking the boy, but even with how fast he was healing she was certain he was in no state to fight properly. Especially after that weird seizure he had a minute ago.

Unaware of either of the two girls' thoughts, Naruto continued to make a beeline towards the castle by rooftop. It took him almost five minutes to get there, mostly because he ended up stumbling a few times due to the pain in his head and arm flaring.

Leaping over the gates with ease, he zipped around the panicking guards and through the front door. He then ran down the main hall until he reached the throne room where a scared and concerned looking Momo sat on her throne surrounded by guards. "Momo-hime! What are you doing?! You should be getting out of here!"

"Trust me Naruto-san, I would like nothing more than to leave." Momo's voice shook slightly with nervousness and her hands gripped her thrones armrests so tightly her knuckles were white. "Unfortunately, my military advisor has other ideas." She said while giving the man standing next to her, an elderly fellow with greying brown hair, a handlebar mustache, a military tux, and a cane with a brown spotted mushroom handle, a dirty look.

"With all due respect your highness, the castle is the safest possible place you can be." The man said with utmost certainly in his voice. "It has withstood hundreds of invasions in the past and it will withstand a hundred mor-what are you doing!?" He demanded when Naruto suddenly walked right up to Momo and scooped her up into a bridal carry.

"Getting Momo-hime too safety before it's too… late…" Naruto trailed off as the ground started shaking and a shadow started rising over the room. Slowly looking towards the giant stained-glass window, Naruto's eyes widened in shock before he tightened his grip on the princess and leapt straight over the guards towards the exit.

-Play Bowser theme (Whichever version you prefer)-

He wasn't a moment too soon, as not even a second later Bowser arm burst through the roof and tore out an entire section. Huge chunks of stone fell, killing or injuring many of the guards, with Momo turning completely pale as a particularly large piece squashed both her throne and military advisor.

' _What the fuck!? I thought Asuma-sensei and Super Bushy Brows were dealing with that thing.'_ Naruto yelled mentally as he hopped around several more times to avoid more falling debris.

" _ **They're trying to, look.**_ " Artemis said while mentally nudging Naruto's eyes to the side where he could see Gai and Asuma attacking with everything they had, only to be blatantly ignored as Bowser kept attacking the castle.

' _I don't get it, why is it so focused on the castle?'_ Naruto asked, stumbling back a bit as a chandelier crashed down in front of him.

" _ **I don't know, I've only seen animals or monsters act like this when..."**_ Artemis paused as Bowser sniffed the air and swiveled its head to look right at them. "… _ **when they were chasing down their prey…**_ _**Naruto. Move. Now!"**_

"Kuso!" Naruto swore as he barely managed to leap out of the way as a torrent of fire ripped through the space he had just been occupying.

"By Kami, Daimaō Kuppa. I thought he was just a myth." Momo muttered in shock, making Naruto glance at her briefly before focusing back on Bowser as he dodged a wild swing that took out another section of the castle.

' _Arty-nee, what the hell is going on?'_

" _ **You're being hunted, that's what."**_

' _I got that! I meant why!'_ Naruto thought while moving to an undamaged section of the castle for cover.

" _ **It's a predator, a predator you pissed off a lot, why wouldn't it be hunting you? Also, incoming on your rear.**_ _"_

As soon as he heard this, Naruto leapt to the top of a nearby staircase and spun around, only for his jaw to drop at what he saw. "Oh come on! It can spit fucking lava!" Sure enough, down below Bowser's head could be seen sticking through the wall with red hot molten rock spraying out of its mouth.

Said head snapped to his position right after he spoke, forcing Naruto to jump out of the way as a stream of lava narrowly missed him and his screaming passenger. "That's it, no more of this crap!" Finding another hiding spot, Naruto made a single shadow clone and handed Momo over to it. "Get her to safety, now!"

"Hai Boss!" The clone said before running towards the main entrance while the original prepared his bow.

" _ **Aren't you worried that Bowser will try and attack them?**_ _"_

' _No, I think it can tell me apart from the clones, otherwise-_

" _ **It would still be attacking the clones that are running all over the village.**_ _"_ Artemis finished, nodding her head at the logic since both she and Naruto could still feel the heavy pull on his chakra reserves signifying that his clones were still active. " _ **So what now, nothing you've done has done anything more than pissing it off, hence why we're in this situation.**_ _"_

' _...'_

" _ **You're going to wing it aren't you?**_ _"_

"You know me too well, nee-chan." Naruto said while quickly nocking an explosive tag arrow. Popping out around the corner, he fired at Bowser's eye again while running to another section of the castle. Sadly, while the shot was on target, the massive turtle's head moved at the last second and the projectile exploded harmlessly against its beaked maw as it continued to spew lava at him.

Undeterred, Naruto continued to run, jump, hop, flip, and just about every other acrobatic maneuver you can think of that helped him avoid getting roasted, sliced, smashed, or melted. All the while, he continued to try and fail at hitting Bowser's eyes.

Meanwhile, outside the castle, Gai and Asuma were forced to back off as all the excess lava started flowing outwards, rapidly covering the grounds and preventing them from getting close. On the plus side, Naruto's clone had managed to get the princess to safety as the he had managed to get a glimpse of it handing her to his sensei before dispelling. " _ **Naruto, this isn't working.**_ _"_

"Yeah, I noticed," Naruto grumbled while rolling behind a chunk of stone just as a massive column of fire filled the area. "That's why I'm going to try something really REALLY stupid."

" _ **Of course you are.**_ "

"Do you have a better idea?" Naruto asked, his voice just a touch snarky but also a bit desperate. When he was met with silence though, he just sighed heavily while nocking his last arrow. "I didn't think so."

Waiting for the flames to die down, Naruto took several deep breaths to steady his heartbeat before standing up and walking out from cover. When Bowser spotted him, he stopped and raised his bow.

" _ **Naruto… please tell me you aren't trying to play chicken with a several ton lava spitting turtle.**_ "

Naruto didn't respond as he kept his focus firmly on Bowser as it opened its mouth wide to reveal the lava bubbling up in it's throat, before giving off a gurgling roar as it spat out the molten rock in a condensed stream. Despite this, the whiskered blonde didn't move an inch, watching as the lava streaked towards him at high speed.

" _ **Naruto,"**_ Artemis said nervously as the lava got closer and Naruto still didn't move.

" _ **Naruto!"**_ Finally, when the scorching was mere feet away from him, Naruto reacted.

Jumping to the side at the last second, he bit down the urge to yelp as the lava missed him by a mere inch, the heat alone causing his exposed skin to start blistering. Ignoring this as best he could, he quickly realigned his shot and fired.

For a brief moment, time seemed to slow down as the arrow started to fly through the air, sailing towards its objective. Briefly blinded by the glare of its own attack, Bowser never saw the projectile coming until it was too late.

*Squelch* *BOOM*

" **GRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!** " A scream of rage and pain burst from Bowser's throat as it clutched the gaping hole that used to be its eye, it's red

-Stop Music-

Naruto smirked at this for a moment before pausing as he heard a crackling sound. Confused, he looked down towards the source and froze when he saw his bow.

While most of the weapon looked fine, the bottom of the lower limb was blacked and shattered, having been scorched from the lava as it passed then snapping from the stress of firing.

Gently grasping the small segment still dangling from the string, he felt his heart ache as the charred wood crumbled apart between his fingers. Staring at the ashen remains in his hand, tears quickly to build up in his eyes and threatened to fall.

" _ **Naruto… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry,**_ _"_ Artemis murmured softly, not knowing what else to say.

"…Don't be," Naruto said as his hand closed into a fist, the remains of his bow groaned as his grip on them tightened. "It wasn't your fault."

-Play: Animal I've Become by Three Days Grace-

"It's his." He said while glared at Bowser as 'he' howled in agony. "And he is going to pay for it."

Within the seal, Artemis was trying to think of a way to console her host when she blinked as she felt a sudden invigorating and draining sensation. Looking at herself, she was shocked to see her whole body glowing a bright silver as a lot more of her power than normal was being drawn away. Looking behind herself, she saw that her bindings were also glowing, only this time a dark red signifying the power of the kyuubi as it was being forced into her.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Naruto started to gain a soft silver glow around his form, not that he noticed as he was blinded by his anger.

" _ **Naruto, I know you're upset, but you need to calm down and… you're not listening to me.**_ " Artemis said with a sigh as her host charged at the giant turtle.

Moving at speeds much faster than he normally does, it only took the whiskered teen a few seconds to reach the beast legs. He then used his chakra to stick to Bowser's leg, quickly scaling his way up the thrashing turtle side and up to its head.

Too focused on the searing pain of having its eye socket blown apart, Bowser didn't even notice its unwanted passenger until they were literally staring eye to eye. "If you think that hurt, then you're going to hate this!" With rage filled silver eyes, Naruto raised up his broken bow like a spear and promptly stabbed it as deep as he could into the until recently uninjured eye.

" **GRAAAAAAAHHH!** "

Bowser stumbled back several steps howling in pure agony while blindly swiping at its face, managing to scratch both itself and Naruto's back several times before it tripped over a large chunk of the castle it had torn off.

As it fell, Naruto summoned the Dancing Lunar Blades and proceeded to hack, slash, and stab everything in reach all the way down.

" **AAAAAG-** *Squelch*-garagrule." Coincidently, the place Bowser fell was directly over a church which had a large metal sun statue on top that pierced right through the back of the monster's head and erupted out of its mouth and forehead in a shower of greenish red blood.

-End Music-

Bowser's once mighty roars were reduced to a pathetic gurgling as it thrashed around in a desperate attempt to get back up, to no avail. As each second passed, its struggling got weaker and weaker until eventually it fell still entirely.

After a whole minute of not moving, Naruto slowly stood up and dispelled his daggers before reaching down and pulling out the remains of his weapon with a sharp tug, his breath coming in long ragged puffs. Limping over to the edge of the beast's head, he sloppily hopped down and ended up fall flat on his scratched up back.

"…ow…"

" _ **Congratulations, you just took down a giant mutated monster turtle basically single-handedly. How do you feel?**_ _"_ Artemis asked sarcastically, though with a strong hint of concern mixed in.

"Peachy," Naruto said tiredly as he stayed sprawled out across the ground.

" _ **Good, then you can deal with the thing that just slithered onto your chest.**_ "

"Say what now?" Naruto mumbled as he lifted his head up…

….and promptly had his jaw fall straight back down as he saw, "Am I hallucinating or is there a chibi snake lady on my chest?"

-End Chapter-

AN: Happy New Year everyone, sorry if this chapter is a bit sloppy caused I rushed to finish it on time. This AN will also be brief as it is getting late and I want to sleep. First off, if you guessed the pocket Lamia as the mystery egg's contents, then congratulations and please enjoy your internet cookie. Next, yes the military advisor was based off Toadsworth. The seven references last chapter were from TMNT, Resident Evil, Dead Space, Halo, Gamera, and The Seven Deadly Sins, if you still cant find them all, then too bad. Also Yes, it may seem like everyone was babying Naruto a bit in this chapter, but he did just recover from a very serious head injury. And finally Daimaō Kuppa is Bowser's original Japanese name and roughly translates to Great Demon King Turtle. Thank you for reading and please review


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 11-

-Last Time-

" _Peachy," Naruto said tiredly as he stayed sprawled out across the ground._

 _"_ **Good, then you can deal with the thing that just slithered onto your chest** _."_

 _"Say what now?" Naruto mumbled as he lifted his head up…_

… _.and promptly had his jaw fall straight back down as he saw, "Am I hallucinating or is there a chibi snake lady on my chest?"_

-And Now-

Turns out he wasn't hallucinating.

It had been a day since the turtle monster attacked Omocha and Naruto could be found lying on a luxurious king-sized bed with a bored expression on his face. Several bandages covered his bare torso, his entire right arm, and a good portion of his head.

The 'chibi snake lady' or a lamia as Artemis said her kind was called, was still on his chest. She was roughly one and a half feet long/tall, with two-thirds of her body consisting of a black and yellow snake tail that ended at the hips. Not only that, but a pair of small grey wings attached to her shoulder blades, each one about an inch big and covered in soft down feathers.

Past that, she looked almost entirely human with soft peach skin, long black hair that reached a few centimeters past her shoulders, and bright amber eyes. She looked to be about seven to eight years old with slightly chubby cheeks and somewhat pudgy physic, only made more apparent with the cute blue dress she was wearing.

She was currently 'sitting' just above where his heart was, her tail curled up messily around her as she watched a cartoon on the TV in front of the bed. Ever since she'd first revealed herself, the tiny snake girl spent most of her time in that spot, with the only exceptions being to go to the bathroom, eating, when he moved, or if someone moved her.

Like when his comrades had first found him after he slew Bowser. To say it was an awkward first meeting would be an understatement…

-The day before-

" _I can't believe Naruto took that thing down by himself," Ino muttered as she kept glancing at the mutated turtle's corpse. It had only been five minutes since its death and yet it was somehow already badly decayed as its rotting flesh started falling apart. "I saw it my own eyes, yet I still can't believe it."_

 _She knew Naruto was much more skilled than she'd given him credit for before graduation, but seriously. How did he go barely win a spar in class to toppling giant hundred-foot monsters in just a few months?_

 _"I know what you mean, Gai-sensei and Asuma-san barely even scratched it." Tenten said as helped the gossip queen move some rubble that they'd seen a glimpse of orange under, only to groan when it was just a broken store sign. She was having just as much difficulty understanding how Naruto managed something that both their senseis couldn't._

 _However, unlike Ino who's confusion was towards Naruto's skills, her disbelieving thoughts were focused on the boy's condition. He was still recovering from head injury and third degree burns when they'd separated after all._

" _He probably just got lucky is all." Neji said with a scoff as he landed beside them with his usual stoic expression on his face. "There is no other explanation for one destined to failure li-"_

" _Neji, this is so not the time for your fate crap," Tenten cut him off, stunning the pale-eyed boy briefly. "I can normally stand it when we're training and such, but right now we are in the middle of a mission. Not only that, but we just got attacked by a giant fire-breathing turtle and now a squadmate is MIA possibly KIA. So, if you'd please, shut up and keep looking or I swear I'll find out exactly how many of my weapons I can fit up your ass!"_

 _Caught off guard by his teammate's actions, Neji instinctually backed up a few steps before catching himself. Shaking his head slightly, he quickly recomposed himself and offered back a bland expression. "Fine, whatever." He said emotionlessly while walking off to look around Bowser's left leg._

 _Watching him leave with a raised eyebrow, Ino turned back to Tenten and asked, "Is he always so… pessimistic?"_

" _If by pessimistic you mean complete ass, then yes, he is." Tenten huffed angrily while going the exact opposite direction with the blonde girl in tow. "Even in the academy, it was always fate this and destiny that. I can't believe I used to have a crush on him."_

" _Seriously, you had the hots for him?" Ino asked curiously, getting a short nod in response. "What did you even see in him?"_

" _It was just a typical schoolgirl crush. He was the best in class, looked cute, had that high and mighty attitude of his that made him seem cool." Tenten said, rolling her eyes as she listed off her reasoning for liking Neji while making sure to pay attention to her surroundings for any sign of Naruto. "Once I started spending more time with him as a teammate and had to deal with his 'cool' attitude all day however, his appeal quickly dried up."_

" _Oh, I guess that makes sense," Ino said with a nod as a look of contemplation appeared on her face. 'That… that sounds a lot like why I like Sas-'_

" _Naruto!" Her thoughts were cut off by Tenten shout as the bun-haired girl shot off ahead. Following the direction the girl went, Ino's eyes widened as she saw the missing whiskered blonde lying on the ground not far from Bowser's head, large scratches covering his body and his broken blood-soaked bow lying next to him._

 _She started to rush to his side as well, but was stopped halfway there when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder, stopping her on the spot. "EE-mph!" Another hand clapped over her mouth, muffling the startled cry that escaped her lips._

 _Eyes snapping towards the owner of the hands, Ino's surprise swiftly turned to confusion as she found that it was none other than Asuma who stopping her. Gai stood a few feet away holding an equally confused Tenten with Lee and Choji behind him. Removing the hand from her shoulder, he raised it up to his lips and made a shushing motion before pointing to Naruto._

 _Getting the hint, Ino kept quiet as she turned back to the down whiskered blond, her eyes bugging out of their sockets as she finally noticed his little hitchhiker staring back at her with a tilted head. "What the hell is that thing?!" She whisper-yelled after pulling the hand off her face._

" _Most likely another escaped experiment." Asuma whispered back, all of them having been informed earlier by Tenten about the lab that she and Naruto had stumbled upon. Speaking of which, "Tenten, didn't you say you two had taken one."_

" _Yeah, an egg, but it was destroyed when that thing first attacked us." The weapons girl said once Gai let her go, gesturing towards Bowser's head as she spoke. "At least, I thought it had been."_

" _Well, now we know better." Asuma sighed while rubbing his beard in thought._

" _So what do we do sensei?" Choji asked as he nervously chomped on a bag of chips._

"… _I don't know."_

" _Hey, not to rush anyone or something, but could you guys stop whispering crap to and help me. I'm bleeding out here and I just lost feeling in my legs." Naruto groaned out as he slowly lifted his head up to glare at the whispering group._

" _Sorry Naruto, but we can't risk getting close until we know if that thing on your chest is dangerous to either you or us." Asuma called out. "Now don't move, I've dealt with snakes before and they don't like sudden movement."_

" _How the hell could she be dangerous?" Naruto asked dully as he sat up as best he could despite everyone quietly yelling at him not to and gently grabbed the snake girl around the waist with his good hand. "I mean look at her, she's so tiny and doesn't even have teeth."_

 _Much to everyone else's surprise, the lamia did absolutely nothing in response to the manhandling other than look at the whiskered blonde curiously with a soft hum and curl her tail around his forearm. After waiting a few more moments and still not seeing any hostility, Asuma gradually approached his downed student._

 _Kneeling beside the bleeding blonde, he reached out and cautiously reached out for the snake girl. Grabbing her by the scruff of the neck like one would a venomous serpent, Asuma gently prized her out of Naruto's grasp, once again receiving no reaction other than her tail curling around his arm once it came free and another hum._

-Back to the Present-

The cause for her behavior would later be revealed after the smoker went through the files that Tenten had sealed up. As it turned out the lamia, that Naruto had named Teisho (Hum, soft singer) due to her humming, had been genetically engineered to be extremely docile and submissive in order to be the perfect test subject.

A task made rather easy since the DNA used in Teisho's creation, other than human of course, were that of a garter snake and a pigeon. With everything pointing to the little lamia being harmless, Asuma and Gai made the decision to give her the benefit of the doubt and let her stay with Naruto, whom she'd apparently imprinted on as her 'parent' due to her avian DNA.

This choice was rather well received by the rest of the genin, with Ino and Tenten finding little Teisho to be quite adorable. The gossip queen of the duo was even the one who refitted the dress Teisho was wearing from a doll.

Choji helped prepare food she could eat since she truly didn't have any teeth yet though they did look to be growing. Thankfully, other than a preference for slightly undercooked meat, her diet was roughly the same as a human. Lee had been his usual enthusiastic self and happily welcomed her amongst their group.

Neji just didn't care, enough said.

And now we're back to Naruto laying in bed, recovering from the plethora of injuries he'd gotten from , as Asuma put it, his absolutely craziest and stupidest stunt he'd ever pulled. The luxuriousness of his room was because he was currently inside one of the royal suites of Omocha's finest Inn, The Golden Truffle, curtesy of Princess Momo herself who was staying there as well until her castle was rebuilt.

However, no matter how nice the accommodations were, they did little to stop Naruto's rapidly mounting boredom. Not even the TV helped, since all that was playing were educational cartoons for Teisho since she was only a day old and had a lot to learn.

Of course, even if he could do anything, the whiskered blonde wasn't sure he'd want to, as the loss of his bow was still hitting him hard. Glancing over at a corner, his chest clenched slightly as he once again saw the broken weapon laying across a desk, the blood and viscera cleaned off but the damage still clear as day.

His teammates and team 9 minus Neji had given him their condolences for its destruction and had even offered to help him get a new one, but it was sadly clear that none of them truly understood how much his bow truly meant to him. Not even Tenten as while she cared for her weapons, her style of fighting often led to them breaking on a regular basis.

It wasn't just his primary weapon, it was the proof of his success under Artemis's instruction. The first thing she had him do before teaching him was make that bow, something that had taken weeks of hard work and multiple failed attempts. The tedious process of finding the right wood for the body of the bow, de-barking, treating, carving, and finally stringing had left Naruto on the brink of total frustration many, many times before he finally got it right.

It was from that bow that he'd fired his first shot (which still brought him and Artemis laughs) gotten his first bullseye, ended up becoming friends with Hinata, and passed the true Genin exam. It was such an integral piece of who he was now that losing it was like killing a part of himself. That was why he never even named it, it was as pointless to him as giving a name to his arm or leg.

The worst part though, was no matter how much he wanted to hold all the blame towards Bowser, Naruto knew that it was just as much his fault do to his reckless actions.

Artemis did what she could to support him, being one of the two people (The other being Asuma) who could really sympathize with him as she held her own bow in a similar regard, hence why she refused to even let him touch it unlike the Dancing Lunar Blades.

Unfortunately, she'd never been particularly good at emotional support. Ever since the incident with Orion so many years ago, Artemis had always kept herself from getting too attached to others. This even included her own hunters, whom she'd instead taught to rely on each-other for such things.

Artemis would have done the same here, but the problem was that was the physical link to Naruto's soul created by the chains binding her. Because of this, she felt his every emotion, heard his every thought, spent every second of every day with him.

There was literally no way she couldn't become attached.

However, despite her inexperience in the field, Naruto greatly appreciated her attempts and had hugged her inside his mindscape as thanks, then promptly promised not to tell anyone on her insistence (aka threats of unending pain).

"Okay, that's it. I'm going for a walk." Naruto said, lifting Teisho off his chest as he sat up and placing her on a nearby pillow, having reached the limit to how long he could sit around doing nothing.

" _ **As long as it's**_ **only** _ **a walk.**_ _"_ Artemis told him strictly, getting the blonde to grumble quietly but nod in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, Teisho stay here, I'll be back in a bit." He said while scooching to the edge of the bed and standing up with a small hiss.

"Hmmmmm~."

"I hope that means she understood." Naruto muttered, his eyes flickering to the lamia as she continued to stare at the TV before grabbing his jacket from a nearby chair and walking out of the room with a slight limp. Crossing through the equally posh and thankfully empty Livingroom, he headed straight for the front door.

Just as he was reaching for the doorknob though, Naruto jumped in surprise as loud knocking echoed from the slab of mahogany. Opening the door, his eyebrow rose in confusion as he saw one of the royal guards bowing to him. "My apologies for the intrusion Naruto-sama, but her highness Momo-sama has requested that you join her for lunch in her suite."

"Uh, alright then, I'll head right over. Thanks for the heads up." Naruto said with an awkward smile as the guard bowed again and left. "I am never going to get used to that." For a boy who grew up ostracized and downgraded by almost all his peers, the sheer amount of respect and admiration the people of Omocha were showing him was overwhelming.

Shutting and locking the door behind him, Naruto walked down the long hallway until he reached the Princess's room, marked by the two men standing guard in front the door. "Hey, Momo-chan wanted to-" The guards immediately moved to the sides and the left one opened the door for him. "…see me."

Sweatdropping slightly as he stepped past the two men, the whiskered boy's gaze swept across the room, which was identical to his groups, until they settled on Princess Momo. She was seated at the dining table wearing a more casual and less puffy version of her usual dress.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so glad you could make it." Momo said with a bright smile forming on her lips as soon as she saw him. "Despite hearing that you were mostly recovered, I was worried that you'd be unable to come due to your injuries."

"No problem Momo-chan, I've always healed fast. Besides, I may not be the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but it would be pretty stupid of me to ignore a princess's request, especially one as pretty as you." Naruto said innocently with a grin, missing the light blush that appeared on the princess's cheeks at his words.

"Fair enough, please have a seat." Momo said while gesturing to the open chair next to her, actually it was the only chair open as all the others sans the one she was sitting on were oddly missing.

Of course, Naruto thought nothing of this as he happily plopped down next to the girl and started to marvel at the large spread before them. There were regular dishes like onigiri, and tempura, local delicacies such as roasted truffles and turtle soup, and several deserts such as dango, crepe, and pocky. To top it all off, a simple but delectable looking cake sat in the middle, made with white, yellow, and pink frosting.

"I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I had the chefs bring up a little of everything." Momo told him, giggling a little as she saw the small trail of drool slowly dripping from his lips. "Looks like I made the right choice."

Snapping out of his little trance at the sound of her laugh, Naruto smiled sheepishly while quickly wiping his mouth. "You could've just asked."

"But then it wouldn't have been a surprise." Momo said as she started serving herself.

"Oh… wait, surprise for who?" Naruto asked with a tilted head.

"For you silly." The princess said, giggling again at the cute baffled look on his face. "You saved not only my country and my people, but my very life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, so I hand to thank you somehow."

"Um well I did, but it was because of me that you were danger in the first place… and that your castle was destroyed… and a lot of your soldiers were killed." Naruto muttered sadly, guilt flowing through him as he thought of the good men and women who'd died during the assault on the castle.

Before he could wallow in those dark thoughts for long though, he was brought back to the present by Momo's hand cupping his cheek and turning his head to face her.

"That wasn't your fault, there was no way you could have known that would happen." She said while gently rubbing his whisker-like birthmarks with her thumb. "Besides, if anyone is to blame, it would be my stupid stubborn ex-advisor for not letting me evacuate the castle when we had the chance."

"Yeah, but-" Naruto tried to argue only for the princess's hand to move over his lips.

"Even my bravest and most loyal guards fled in terror at the mere sight of that beast. Yet you faced him all by yourself while injured and exhausted without even an ounce of hesitation, just so that I could get to safety." Momo continued. "Never in my life have I ever seen such courage and selflessness."

Naruto flushed slightly from all the praise he was getting, and at the same time Artemis groaned. " _ **Oh Chaos, I know where this going,**_ _"_

' _What are you talking about Arte-nee? Where is this going?'_ Naruto asked the goddess in confusion, only to get no response other than unintelligible grumbles before he returned his attention back to the princess.

"So please accept this meal, it is the least I could do to repay you for everything you've done." Momo said while placing a filled plate in front of him.

Not knowing what else to say, Naruto nodded in defeated acceptance and picked up his chopsticks. "Itadakimasu." He said while grabbing a piece of onigiri and popping it into his mouth, the princess doing the same only with some sushi.

"So how are your people doing?" He asked after a few minutes of somewhat awkward silence.

"Good, there were thankfully very few casualties and those who've lost their houses are being taken in by neighbors or Inns until we can rebuild their homes."

"That's good, any idea what you're going to do about Bowser's body?"

"Yes actually," Momo said while pouring herself a cup of tea. "Once the last of the flesh is cleared off, it's bones are going to be turned into Kinoko's newest tourist attraction. I'm hoping that it'll help make up the income lost." During Bowser's rampage, the mutated turtle had destroyed almost a third of the surrounding farmland, and with it thousands of ryo worth of produce.

On the plus side, the turtle population was back to manageable levels.

"Sounds like a good idea," Naruto said as he sipped at a bowl of his second favorite food, red bean soup.

"I thought so as well when the merchant's representatives pitched the idea to me earlier today. Speaking of which…" The princess hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I'm sorry if this upsets you, but they wanted me to ask if… if you'd allow to let them have your bow."

"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT! What?!" Soup went flying all over the table as Naruto did a spit-take of epic proportions.

Cringing a little at his reaction, Momo quickly explained further. "They were hoping that since the bow was broken, that you'd be willing to part with it. That way they would have both the body of the beast and the weapon that killed it to show off in the exhibit once it's set up."

Hearing this, Naruto calmed down as he got what she was saying, they wanted the full 'set' as it were. Hell, now that he thought about it, he wouldn't be surprised if they tried scrounging up the arrows that no doubt littered the interior of the destroyed castle still. "…I'll think about it Momo-hime."

"Of course, take all the time you need." Momo said, patting his shoulder comfortingly before turning back to the food and grabbed a bread knife. "Now enough of this seriousness, how about we dig into this cake finally?"

Glad for the change in topic, Naruto nodded his head as the princess cut the cake and placed a slice on each of their now empty plates. "You know, this'll be the first time I've ever had cake."

"Really? Why's that?" Momo asked curiously.

"Never really had the urge to try it to be honest." Naruto said with a shrug. While he did like sweet foods, again red bean soup being his second favorite, he didn't really have that big of a sweet tooth. Well that and he personally felt that any money not spent on ramen was money wasted.

"Well then, I guess that means you can honestly say that the first cake you ever had was personally made for you by a princess." Said princess said, once again breaking into giggles as she saw the dumbfounded look on his face.

"You made this yourself?" Naruto asked, his gaze switching from her to the cake and back again several times.

"Yep, baking has always been a hobby of mine, something I picked up from my mother before she and father passed." Momo said with a sad nostalgic smile.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Naruto said, setting a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to them?"

"They died during an Ebola outbreak three years ago. One of our ambassadors contracted it from a brothel in Kaminari no Kuni(Land of Lightning) and ended up spreading it to several others, including the king and queen when he came back with his reports." The princess told him, sniffling a little as she subtly scooched closer to her fellow blonde and leaned against his shoulder. "Before you ask, I can't officially become queen until either my sixteenth birthday or I marry."

Nodding in understanding as that was something he'd been curious about, Naruto decided not to delve into it any further and focused back on his plate. Setting his chopsticks down, he picked up a fork slightly awkwardly, not used to using such a utensil, and lightly stabbed it into his slice of cake.

Pulling it back out laden with a moderate sized chunk of the dessert, he took a brief moment to enjoy the soft vanilla scent it had popped it into his mouth. As the delightful amount of sweetness hit his tongue, his lips curled into a smile as he chewed. "Wow, this is delicious!" He said once he swallowed, quickly scooping up another bite and shoving in his mouth. "You are a really great cook Momo-chan!"

"Thank you, that means a lot coming from you." The princess said, taking a few bites of her own piece as she got closer. "I spoke with your sensei earlier today and he said you'll be leaving tomorrow."

Naruto started to talk with his mouth full, which naturally ended up with nothing but garbled mess coming out until he caught himself. Swallowing the cake in his mouth, he coughed slightly from a chunk that went down the wrong pipe before talking again. "Yeah, he said our mission was to help deal with your country's turtle problem, and since that's done we have to head back as soon as we're able."

"He told me the same thing. Such a shame, I was hoping you all would be able to stay longer, I've really been enjoying your company." Momo sighed as she scooted even closer.

"Well, you could always request another mission," Naruto said jokingly with a chuckle, missing the serious consideration that passed the princess's face. "And it's not like we're saying goodbye forever, we'll definitely see each-other again and until then we could always write."

"That is true, but there's no telling how long that would be and there are things that can't be put into a letter." Momo said, a blush forming on her cheeks as her chair lightly bumping into his.

"Really like wha-" Naruto was cut off when a pair of soft supple lips pressed against his own. His face turned bright red as he was enraptured by the lovely baby blue eyes that stared into his own silver flecked cerulean.

Frozen in place like a deer caught in the headlights, he could nothing but sit there as the princess's slender arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him deeper into the kiss. It was a good thing he was sitting already as his legs turned to jelly and his heart felt like it was going to explode in his chest from how rapidly it was pounding, with it only getting worse as he felt something start softly prodding his lower lip.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Momo broke the lip-lock and whispered into his ear. _"Since we may not see each-other for so long, how would you like to be my little prince for the next few hours_?"

If at all possible, Naruto's face became even redder and steam started rising from his ears. "Uh…uh…" ' _Oh my Kami! Oh my Kami! Arty-nee! What do I do!? What do I do!?'_

"…"

'… _Arty-nee?'_

 _ ***Beep* "I'm sorry, the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or no longer exists. Please check again to make sure you have dialed the correct number, or try again later."**_

Snapping back to reality with a small yelp as he felt something settle on his lap, he looked up slowly to see the princess looking down at him with a smirk as she leaned in close again. " _I'll take that as a yes."_

-Six hours later-

"Where the heck is that baka?!" Ino demanded in worried frustration as she paced back and forth in her team's suite. After a long day of helping clear rubble, finding still missing villagers, and other such things, the three members had decided to call it a night, only to find Naruto missing.

"Relax Ino, I'm sure Naruto's fine Ino. He probably just got tired of being cooped up and went to stretch his legs." Asuma tried to reassure his student as he sat at the table with Choji. Teisho was on the table in-between them, still on her pillow watching the gossip queen curiously.

"It's been almost two hours!"

"And? This is Naruto we're talking about."

Ino opened her mouth to keep arguing, only to pause when she couldn't come up with anything. After a few moments of this, she huffed in annoyance and was starting to pace again when the doorknob suddenly jiggled.

Everyone's attention snapped to the door as it opened, and eyebrows rose as a disheveled Naruto walked into the room. His hair was messier than normal, his jacket was open enough for them to see the slightly askew and sweat soaked bandages underneath, and there were light pink smear marks all over his lips, cheeks, and neck.

While the younger ones in the room looked at the boy with shock and confusion, Asuma had a small grin and was barely holding back the laughter that was threatening to burst out. He'd seen enough shinobi come back from their first seduction missions to figure out exactly what happened.

"Uh, Naruto, are you alright?" Ino asked, her previous aggravation forgotten at the sight of her fellow blonde's state.

"The cake is a lie." He muttered dazedly, a glazed look in his eyes as he absentmindedly brushed past the girl and headed for his room, not noticing as the contact caused something to fall out of his hair and clatter against the ground.

Ino did however and was quick to bend over and grab the item. "What the hell?" She asked herself as she held up a familiar, teacup sized crown for the others to see. "Isn't this the princess's? What's it doing in… Naruto's… hair…" The ponytailed girl's eyes widened as her gossip wired brain finally put the pieces together. "Oh my..." *Thump*

"I was wondering how long it would take her to figure it out." Asuma said with an amused chuckle, one that grew into the laughter he'd been restraining when Choji continued to look at him with confusion.

-End Chapter-

AN: Be honest, who actually didn't see that coming? I did make her name Momo after all. Anyway, sorry for the late, and basically filler, chapter. As I explained in my last update of Nora's a Mommy, I've been really busy and haven't had as much time to write as usual. That said, I do hope you liked this chapter. Thank you for reading and please review


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 12-

-Last Time-

 _"The cake is a lie." He muttered dazedly, a glazed look in his eyes as he absentmindedly brushed past the girl and headed for his room, not noticing as the contact caused something to fall out of his hair and clatter against the ground._

 _Ino did however and was quick to bend over and grab the item. "What the hell?" She asked herself as she held up a familiar, teacup sized crown for the others to see. "Isn't this the princess's? What's it doing in… Naruto's… hair…" The ponytailed girl's eyes widened as her gossip wired brain finally put the pieces together. "Oh my..." *Thump*_

 _"I was wondering how long it would take her to figure it out." Asuma said with an amused chuckle, one that grew into the laughter he'd been restraining when Choji continued to look at him with confusion_.

-And Now-

It was lovely summer day, with warm sunlight shining down from an almost cloudless sky and through the forest canopy. A gentle breeze flowing past carrying the sweet scents of the plant-life in bloom. All around, a plethora of various chirps, squeaks, and other such noises sounded out, creating a somewhat chaotic yet soothing atmosphere.

"Come on Naruto, you gotta tell me what happened." And one Naruto Uzumaki couldn't enjoy it one bit as he, his team, and Team nine walked through the forested terrain of Hi no Kuni, thanks to the unending badgering of his fellow blonde.

It had been four days since his ' _lunch'_ with Princess Momo, and Ino had been absolutely relentless on trying to get all the ' _juicy details'_ out of the whiskered boy. Well, that and how he'd been able to fully recover from twenty deep lacerations, eleven broken bones, and almost a fourth of his body getting burnt to a crisp in only a few days.

Looking over Naruto as he walked, it was practically impossible to tell that he had actually been injured in the first place. He didn't have any scars, scratches, or even a bruise left over, and he was back in his usual attire thanks to the princess having it repaired for him.

The only real differences were Teisho, who was sitting on Naruto's left shoulder quietly humming as she looked around curiously, with the princess's crown atop her head oddly enough… and empty space on his right where his bow would be slung.

-Four Days Ago, Outskirts of Omocha-

Momo and Naruto stood before each-other with somber expressions that were contradicted by the heavy blushes on their cheeks. A thick tension filled the air between them, with the only one not affected being Teisho, who was curled up in Naruto's hair teething on a piece of jerky.

"Well, I guess this is farewell for now," The princess said with a sad smile, her eyes glancing towards where the rest of team 9 and team 10 were standing not far away.

"Yeah…" Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head, unsure of what else to say.

"Then I wish you luck on your travels and pray that we will cross paths again soon… _my prince."_ Momo said, whispering the last part in Naruto's ear, causing him to sputter slightly as his already red cheeks practically started glowing.

"Eh-hem, same here," The whiskered boy muttered quietly as his fellow blonde giggled softly at his embarrassment. However, her humor was cut short as Naruto suddenly started digging around in his pockets before pulling out his gear scroll.

Unrolling it partially to reveal a basic storage seal, he channeled some chakra into it and his bow puffed into the air with a small cloud of smoke. Catching it by the grip with practiced ease, Naruto looked over the now useless weapon with a torn expression before holding it out towards Momo, his arm shaking lightly.

Realizing what he was doing, the princess's eyes widened slightly as she tentatively reached out with both hands and grasped the bow on either side of the boy's own. "You would truly give this away? Even though it clearly means so much to you?" She asked, her voice filled with surprise.

"I thought about your request hard, and as much as I don't like it, this can do more good here with you than with me." Naruto said, his voice cracking ever so slightly as he pushed the bow further into her arms. "Just promise me that you'll take good care of… Daiippo (First-Step) for me." He asked, finally giving his weapon the name it deserved as he reluctantly let it go.

Smiling softly, Momo hugged Daiippo to her chest and gave a low bow. "You have my word."

Nodding in acceptance, Naruto smiled back while pocketing his scroll, before flinching as his fingers nudged into something sharp. His brows furrowing in confusion, the whiskered blonde grabbed onto the perpetrator and pulled it out to reveal the princess's miniature crown.

"The hell? How'd that get in there?" He wondered aloud, neither him or Momo noticing as Ino smirked at them in the background.

"Oh my, I was wondering where that went," Momo said in a pleasantly surprised tone. "It must've gotten misplaced during our… lunch together."

*Cough* "Yeah, that um, most likely." Naruto stuttered, his face reddening again, though not as bad as earlier. "Here." Quickly changing the subject, he tried to hand the tiny crown back to its rightful owner, only to blink in surprise when the princess shook her head and stepped back.

"You've given me something of great value to yourself on my behest," She said, adjusting her grip on Daiippo. "Thus, it is only fair that I give something up in return. Besides, that crown was always a bit too small for me, and I think you have someone that it would be just the right size for."

As she spoke, her eyes drift upwards, getting Naruto to realize who she was talking about. Raising his free hand to the top of his head, the whiskered blonde gently nudged Teisho, causing her to hum in response and slither onto his palm and curling her tail around his forearm.

Bringing her down in front of him, the little lamia looked at him curiously while continuing to gnaw on her jerky. Petting her gently, Naruto couldn't help but smile as Teisho hummed in delight and even briefly let go of the dried meat held in her mouth in favor of hugging his fingers, before he set the crown atop her head.

"What do ya know, it's a perfect fit." Naruto said, chuckling as Teisho patted the side of the crown with one hand, then wiggled her head around a bit like she was trying to through it off. After a minute or so though, she apparently decided that she either liked or didn't care about the new addition as she stopped and went back to her jerky. "Thank you Momo-chan, I'll do my best to take care of it as well."

"I'm sure you will," Momo said with a soft giggle, before frowning slightly as she glanced at the other ninja once again. "You should get going now, I do believe we've made your friends wait on us long enough."

Turning to look at his team and Gai's team as well, Naruto saw what she meant as he could see the impatient looks starting to form on most of their faces. "Yeah, you're right," Setting Teisho back where she was and turning his head to face Momo with a sad smile.

"Goodbye Momo-chan. I'll see you again, I promise." He said before turning back and regrouping with the others. Momo watched as he talked with his sensei briefly, then almost immediately getting badgered by his female teammate as all eight of them hopped into the forest canopy and begin tree hopping away.

As she watched him leave, she raised a hand to her neck and pulled out a sun pendant that had been obscured by her dress. "Goodbye Naruto-kun, may Amaterasu's blessings protect you on your journey and hasten our reunion." She murmured while rubbing her thumb over the front of the pendant, which had the worn-down image of a bird.

-Back to Present-

" _ **Just tell her already, her incessant begging is really starting to really get on my nerves.**_ _"_ Artemis said with a twitching brow.

' _…_ '

" _ **Are you really still giving me the silent treatment?**_ _"_

 _'…I'm sorry, but the number you are trying to reach has either been disconnected or doesn't-'_

 _"_ _ **Alright, I get it. You're still mad me."**_

 __ _'Of course I'm still mad! I needed your help and you ditched me!'_

 _"_ _ **And I said I was sorry Naruto, but I couldn't risk the possibility of indirectly breaking my vow of chastity."**_

 _'You could have warned me before it was too late.'_

 _"_ _ **I panicked alright, besides we both know that you enjoyed yourself.**_ _"_

 _'That's not the point and you know it!'_

"Pleeeeeease Naruto? Throw me a bone here," Naruto snapped out of his mental argument as Ino got in front of him and held her hands out pleadingly.

"Ugh, I told you I don't want to talk about it Ino, just drop it already." He said exasperatedly, tired of his teammate's constant pestering. She just wouldn't give up no matter how many times he turned her down, trying everything from begging to coercion to even outright attempts of bribery.

"And lose the chance to find out how you managed to hook up with a freaking princess? Hell no! This is best gossip I've ever had the chance at hearing, even better than when I found out that you and Hinata were going on a date." Ino stated adamantly, and rather loudly as the rest of the group suddenly turned towards the arguing pair curiously and suspicion for one stoic Hyuga.

Groaning in irritation, Naruto massaged his forehead as he felt a headache start to form. "Oh for the love of Kami, for the last time Ino, Hinata-chan and I didn't go on a date."

"Really? So, you didn't go to the movies with her alone?" Ino asked, her voice shifting to a suggestive tone at the end.

"Well yeah, but that was just to celebrate graduating from the academy." Naruto said, his brow arcing when Ino moved to his side with a sigh… and gave him a comforting hug?

"Oh, you poor naive thing, there there, don't worry, your good friend Ino will fix you. _Just tell me what I want to know fir-_ Whoa! _"_ Ino started to whisper in Naruto's ear, only to yell out in surprise when he shoved her away. Catching herself after a few feet, the ponytailed blonde huffed indignantly and shot the whiskered boy a dirty look. "I will get what I want Naruto, it's only a matter of time."

"The only way that's going to happen is if you found a way to read my mind." Naruto said, missing the look of sudden realization that popped up on Ino's face.

"… _ **Naruto, her clan can actually read minds, remember?**_ _"_ Artemis stated dully, causing Naruto to freeze. Slowly turning around, his face paled dramatically as he saw Ino holding her hands out in a familiar box shape with a victorious, and ever-so-slightly crazed, grin.

"Shinte-*Smack* OW!" Thankfully, before the girl could finish the technique, Asuma decided to intervene and smacked the clan heiress across the back of the head. "What the heck sensei?!"

"Ino, unless you want to explain to your parents why you've been court-martialed, I highly advise you not to try that stunt again." The normally relaxed man said sternly, causing Ino to gap at him in shock.

"W-w-wha…"

"Article 45 of Konoha's Shinobi Code of Conduct: Any use of a jutsu on a fellow shinobi outside of an agreed upon spar or without warranted cause is considered an act of treason and is punishable by demotion, forced retirement, imprisonment, or death depending on the severity of the crime." Neji stated matter-of-factly, not even blinking as he kept his eyes on Naruto.

"And let's not forget Naruto's already existing… mental issues. I don't think I have to describe the possible complications that could arise from having an inexperienced mind walker such as yourself routing around inside his head." Asuma said, feeling bad internally as he saw his student lose almost all the color in her face but knowing it was for her own good.

It was certainly better than her possibly running into the Kyuubi's cage by accident and then having to explain to the head of the Yamanaka Clan why his daughter was brain-dead or irreversibly mentally damaged/traumatized.

"G-got it sensei, it w-won't happen again," Ino said with a slight stutter, her hands instinctively raising up in a placating manner as she stepped back from Naruto.

"Good," Asuma said with nod, giving the girl a comforting pat on the shoulder before looking ahead where the front gates of Konoha were just starting to come into view. "Now come on, I'm sure you must be looking forwards to telling your friends and family about how our mission went."

While it was an obvious attempt at changing the subject, it was one the girl gladly took as she grinned weakly and started walking again. "Yeah, I can't wait to rub it in Forehead's face that I helped save an entire country." As she spoke, Ino quickly started to perk up. "Heck, I bet it'll even impress Sasuke-kun enough that he'll finally agree to go out on date with me. Then he'll see how great I am and want to go out on more dates, getting closer and closer…"

 _ **"I'm beginning to think that girl's bipolar**_ _._ _ **"**_ Artemis muttered with a raised brow as she watched through Naruto as Ino's mood quickly improved and she began to walk faster.

' _I don't even know what that means, but I'm pretty sure I agree.'_ Naruto thought in agreement, briefly forgetting his irritation towards the moon goddess as he and the rest of the ninja got moving again.

"Don't get too excited just yet, we still have to report to the Hokage first." Tenten said as they arrived and their senseis checked in with the eternal gate guards Izumo and Kotetsu.

"Aw man, I forgot about that." Ino groaned with a pout, hunching forward a bit and dropping her shoulders like the mere thought of their soon-to-be debriefing was tiring her out. "That's gonna take forever."

"Sorry Ino, but that's just how it is." Asuma said after he and Gai finished talking with the guards and the gate opened up, chuckling loudly as his student simple grumbled in response.

Nothing else was said as they entered Konoha and headed towards the Hokage Tower to officially end their mission. Naturally though, their group ended up getting quite a large amount of attention drawn to them as they went by thanks to Naruto's passenger. Several ninja and civilians alike halted in the street in order to stare at Teisho, some being of shock, others of curiosity.

More than a few eyed her with suspicion and disgust muttering harsh insults under their breath, though just as many people (mostly girls and young women) would get one look at her and start ranting about how 'Kawaii' and 'Moe' she was. After a little while though, Teisho started to get bothered by all the attention and she slithered into Naruto's puffy collar until everything except her eyes and crown were out of sight, the latter of which Naruto took off and put into his pocket since it kept poking his neck and chin.

Not long after that, they arrived at the Hokage Tower, went inside. up a few flights of stairs, past the secretary, and finally arrived at the door to the Hokage's office. And just like he always did, Naruto burst right through said door with a big grin on his lips and a yell of, "Hey Jiji, did you miss me?" as soon as he saw Hiruzen at his desk.

However, his good mood swiftly puttered out when the elderly leader didn't smile back, opting to instead give the whiskered blonde a resigned look of tiredness and sadness. "Hello Naruto-kun, I'm glad to see you're alright."

"What's up Jiji? I thought that you'd be excited to see me." Naruto said, his head tilting to the side in confusion. However, before Hiruzen could respond the rest of the group filed into the office and stood before the man.

"Teams 9 and 10 reporting for mission debriefing… sir?" Asuma had started to say in a stiff tone, only to pause at the end with a raised brow when he also noticed the old man's attitude.

"Hello Asuma-san, I'm sure there is a lot you have to tell me if your messages have been as accurate as they appeared to be." Hiruzen's gaze flickered towards the small amber eyes peeking out at him from Naruto's collar. "But sadly, there is a more pressing matter that must be discussed first. Gai-san, could you and your team please step outside for a moment."

"Jiji? What's going on?" Naruto said/asked worriedly as Gai gave a QUIET salute and led Tenten, Neji, and Lee out of the office.

Waiting until Team 9 was completely out of the office, Hiruzen sighed heavily before intertwining his fingers and resting his chin on them. "I'm sorry to have to tell you all this but given your closeness to them, I figured it be best to inform you right away."

"Inform us of what? Closeness to who?" Ino asked worriedly, her inner gossip radar screaming at her that something bad had happened.

"There was an incident with Team 7." It was right.

-End Chapter-

AN: Thank you for reading and please review.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 13-

-Last Time-

 _Waiting until Team 9 was completely out of the office, Hiruzen sighed heavily before intertwining his fingers and resting his chin on them. "I'm sorry to have to tell you all this but given your closeness to them, I figured it be best to inform you right away."_

 _"Inform us of what? Closeness to who?" Ino asked worriedly, her inner gossip radar screaming at her that something bad had happened._

 _"There was an incident with Team 7." It was right._

-And Now, Konoha Hospital (Insert Somber Music)-

*Beep* … *Beep* … *Beep*

Ino felt nothing but sadness and pity wash over her like a tsunami as she looked down at the hospital bed before her, or more specifically the pinkette on it.

Sakura, her once best friend turned love rival, lay completely unmoving as she stared upwards at nothing. Her skin was a sickly grey color instead of its usual soft peach and she was even thinner than the last time Ino had seen her. If it wasn't for the fact the heart monitor was still beeping and her chest was moving slowly, it would be impossible to tell her apart from a corpse.

On the other side of the bed, Sakura's mother, a tired looking dark blonde woman named Mebuki, kept say how everything would be okay while rubbing the girl's arm comfortingly…

…or at least what was left of her arm.

Where Sakura's arms used to be, there was now just a pair of useless bandaged stumps, with one gone all the way to the shoulder and the other ending two or three inches above where her elbow once was.

According to the Hokage, the man that had hired Team Seven, an old bridge builder named Tazuna from Nami no Kuni, to escort him home had lied about the difficulty of the mission because he had been unable to afford a higher rank thanks to a corrupt businessman named Gato ruining his country's economy by monopolizing the shipping industry of the island nation.

Tazuna had been attempting to break said monopoly by building a bridge to connect Nami to the mainland, which resulted in Gato putting a hit out on the old man. Team Seven discovered this shortly after leaving when they were attacked by a pair of C-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure known as the Demon Brothers.

However, after making short work of the two ninjas, the team made the decision of continuing the mission anyway. This ended up being a horrible mistake as only a day later when they were almost at Tazuna's home they were attacked by Zabuza Momochi, an A-rank missing-nin also from Kiri known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist and a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

After a very close fight, in which Team's Seven only just managed to win by the skin of their teeth, a fake hunter-nin from Kiri appeared just as the team leader Kakashi was about to finish Zabuza off and 'killed' the rogue ninja. Unfortunately, as the masked hunter was collecting the 'dead' body, Shikamaru called him out as a phony.

That's when everything ended up going from bad to complete shit as the fake hunter reacted aggressively. Using Zabuza's weapon, a massive seven-foot-long cleaver-like sword, and Senbon, small metal needles, the young hunter easily decimated the tired team before fleeing.

Thankfully nobody had died, but the injuries all four of them had received were no joke. Sasuke had been stabbed in both eyes by a pair of senbon just after he managed to unlock his sharingan, Kakashi received a deep cut to the chest that narrowly missed anything vital, Shikamaru had gotten temporarily paralyzed by several senbon to his spine while trying to attack from a distance, and Sakura's arms had been chopped off she'd reflexively tried to block a sword swipe.

It was only thanks to a combination of Tazuna's daughter, a lovely young woman named Tsunami, having enough medical knowledge to bandage her wounds once the old man managed to drag the quartet the rest of the way to his place and the injuries somehow having frostbite that Sakura didn't bleed out within the hour.

Two and a half days later that, a rescue team consisting of Tsunade, Shizune, and half a dozen ANBU arrived in response to the SOS message Kakashi sent to Konoha via summon. Sadly, while the two medic-nin were able to treat everyone's injuries, they were unable to reattach Sakura's arms thanks to the aforementioned frostbite which caused a bad case of gangrene resulting in even more of the pinkette's arms needing removed and the severed arms rotting due to the inability to properly preserve them.

Once the four were stabilized and the ANBU had taken care of both Gato and his mercenary force (because fuck Gato) and finished an unsuccessful search for Zabuza and the fake hunter-nin, they returned to Konoha.

Tazuna had been arrested briefly for falsifying a mission request that led to Team Seven's state, but the charges were dropped since Kakashi admitted to discovering the lie earlier and still proceeding with the mission.

Well, that plus the Daimyo of Nami agreed to let Konoha keep four-fifths of the money and valuables collected from Gato's mansion, which totaled over 18,000,000 ryo (1,800,000 USD) and that Hi no Kuni get 5% off all trade costs once the bridge was finished.

Ino snapped out of her thoughts as she stepped back slightly so Mebuki could walk past her, having to get back to her duties as a kunoichi of Konoha. Once she was gone, the blonde took the now vacant seat by the bed and put up the most supportive smile she could. "Hey Forehead."

"Ino-Pig." Sakura replied sourly, her voice slightly raspy from lack of use. "What do you want? Gonna gloat that you'll get Sasuke-kun for sure now?"

"What? No, of course not." Ino stated with an offended look. She may be competitive about her crush on the last Uchiha but doing something like that would be outright cruel. "I wanted to see how you were doing. The Hokage told me what happened when my team got back and I was worried."

"Sorry Ino, I'm just in a bad mood." The pinkette apologized.

"Don't worry about it, I'd probably be a bit snippy to if I was in your shoes." The gossip queen said with a wave of her hand before resting it on Sakura's shoulder. "But seriously, how are you holding up?"

"Horribly," Sakura admitted with a depressed sigh, her voice cracking slightly as a single tear ran down her cheek. "I messed up Ino, I messed up so badly."

"Oh come on Sakura, this isn't your fault." Ino said supportingly, only for the pinkette to shake her head.

"Yes it is, I didn't listen to you about those stupid diets and because of that I was completely useless. I could barely keep up with the others when we were walking, and nothing more than a hindrance to my team when we got attacked." Sakura said as more tears started to fall from her eyes. "I should never have become a ninja."

"Hey, hey, stop thinking like that." Ino said while clapping her hands together loudly, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "Yes you should of listened to me about the dieting but do you really think that would have really made a difference now? Those guys were able to beat both your sensei and Sasuke-kun, so they were clearly out of our league."

"Yeah but-"

"No buts." Ino cut Sakura off with a firm look that softened after a few seconds. "You were put in an unexpectedly bad situation that you weren't ready for, it happens. Trust me I know, you wouldn't believe most of the weird crap that happened on my mission."

"Really, like what?" Sakura asked curiously, hoping to change the subject which Ino gladly did.

-Stop Music-

"Where do I even start, my team got stuck with a crazy man with the worst fashion sense I've ever seen, and I mean the worst," Ino paused briefly to shiver as she thought about Gai and Lee's spandex outfits, "and his team, and we were attacked by a giant lava spitting turtle that Naruto somehow managed to kill. Speaking of, and you will not believe this part, somehow that knucklehead managed to hook up with a freaking princess, and he ended up adopting this foot-tall snake girl he found in a cave."

…

…

"…Seriously?" Sakura asked dully while giving Ino a disbelieving look. "I get you're trying to cheer me up and all, but you could at least make it sound somewhat realistic."

"I told you it was hard to believe, hell I went through it and I still have trouble believing it." Ino smirked as she reached into her weapon's pouch and pulled out a photograph that she held out for Sakura to see. "That's why I brought proof."

On it was an image of Bowser's skull with Naruto and Momo standing on top of it, Ino, Choji, and Asuma standing by the left side, and team Nine on the right. Naruto had a sheepish grin and a heavy blush on his face as the princess gave him a kiss on his whiskered cheek while Teisho sat atop his head with her usual curious expression.

As she took in the picture, Sakura's eyes threatened to pop out of her skull and her mouth hung wide open, only snapping back to reality when Ino put the picture away. "Holy shit."

"I know right," Ino said with a chuckle at the armless girl's not so quiet exclamation before explaining the whole story as best she could. With each word that left her mouth, Sakura's flabbergasted expression grew more and more, especially once the platinum blonde talked about Naruto's night with Princess Momo.

"The princess actually had sex with Naruto-baka!?" She demanded.

"Uh-huh, went the whole nine yards from what I can tell." Ino said with a nod. "Guess I can't really blame her though, he did save her life repeatedly."

"But this is Naruto we're talking about. Why would anyone want to sleep with him?" Sakura asked rhetorically as she pretended to gag a little. "Couldn't she have just given him a medal or something instead."

"You know, he's actually not that bad once you get to know him." Ino said with a small frown.

"…"

"What?" The blonde asked with a raised brow as Sakura stared at her with a baffled expression.

"Did you just… defend Naruto?" Sakura asked back incredulously.

"So what if I did? He is my teammate." Ino said with a shrug.

"But you hate him as much as I do." Sakura stated.

"What the hell do you mean hate him?" Ino asked, her head tilted in confusion. "I mean, I disliked Naruto a lot when we were in the academy yeah, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I hated him." And that was true, other than finding Naruto's overexuberance and classroom antics irritating and childish, she really didn't have much of an issue or interaction with him until after they were put on a team.

"But he's so loud, rude, stupid, and annoying because he wasn't raised right. He doesn't have a mother or father, no one to teach him right from wrong." Sakura said while rolling her eyes, missing the look of shock and disgust that appeared on Ino's face as she continued.

"I mean think about it, he just does whatever comes to mind. If I did things like Naruto then forget it, my parents would get so mad at me and I'd get in trouble, so I don't do it. But if you don't have parents to tell you, then how would you know?" She asked rhetorically. "He's selfish and bratty, he gets to do whatever he wants whenever he wants, he-"

"Was completely alone." Ino cut in, causing Sakura to pause in surprise as she turned her head back towards Ino to say something, only to end up cowering under the withering glare the blonde was sending towards her. "Do you realize how horrible you just sounded Sakura?"

"W-what do y-you m-m-mean?" The injured pinkette asked with a stutter, shivering slightly from the anger Ino was directing at her.

"What do I mean? What do I mean!?" Ino repeated in outrage, before pausing briefly to take a few deep breaths to calm down, though her glare intensified threefold. "Do you honestly not know or are you just playing dumb?"

"Know w-what? I have no idea what y-you're getting at." Sakura said shakily, unnerved by Ino's sudden change of mood.

"Wow… just wow," Ino muttered in disappointment with a shake of her head and a sigh. "It really never occurred to you that being an orphan isn't all daisies and rainbows? Did it never reach your big brain that maybe not having parents wouldn't be as fun as you think?"

Sakura started to say something, but Ino cut her off once again by raising her hand. "Sure, we wouldn't have to worry about being punished for doing stupid things or have to follow a bunch of dumb rules like going to bed at seven-thirty, but we'd also lose so much."

"Can you imagine coming home every single day to an empty house, no one there to ask you how school went or support you after a hard day?" Ino asked, causing the crippled pinkette to freeze as her brain started conjuring up images of such a situation. "How about not having your mother around to tell you that you she loved you, or your dad to tell you it was alright after you woke up from a nightmare? Doesn't that just sound fan-fucking-tastic?"

"Uh, well, when you put it like that, that sounds pretty horrible." Sakura muttered while staring at her blanket, unable to meet Ino's gaze.

"No kidding," ' _Imagine how I felt when I found out while visiting his apartment._ ' Ino said/thought, her mind drifting back to that awkward day.

-Flashback, One Week after Genin Test-

' _I can't believe I agreed to this,'_ Ino thought with a dull look as she walked down the hall of an apartment building, a gardening bag hanging from shoulder filled with a few potted flowers, sprouts, and garden tools. ' _Me and my stupid curiosity.'_

The day before Naruto had come by her family shop to buy a few different plants, something he did all the time especially in the last year. However, unlike every other time, Ino had actually talked to her fellow blonde as he shopped, deciding she might as well get to know her knew teammate better.

…Alright fine, she was hoping to get some more details on his 'date' with Hinata. Her love of gossip was a hard thing to quell, sue her.

However, since just jumping into that hadn't gotten her anywhere, the ponytailed blonde had decided to take a subtler approach and started by asking about his constant shopping. As they talked though, Ino had found herself getting increasingly curious about this garden that Naruto kept talking about and before she even realized what happened she'd ended up agreeing to come by and help him with it.

And so here she was, walking up to the door of Naruto's place to hang out with the blonde for a good portion of the day, something she'd never thought she'd be doing.

' _Well, might as well get this over with.'_ Ino thought while knocking loudly.

" _It's open Ino!_ " Naruto's voice called out slightly muffled, causing Ino to blink in surprise before opening the door to find Naruto and Artemis sitting at a table eating cups of instant ramen.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked while looking around the apartment, her already raised brow vanishing into her hairline at how small it was.

"You told us you were coming by today." The moon goddess stated after gulping down a mouthful of noodles.

"Right, my bad," Ino said with a sheepish smile. "So where is this garden you keep talking about?"

"It's up on the roof, here I'll show… *gurgle* hold that thought!" Naruto cut himself off before booking it to the bathroom as his stomach grumbled loudly.

"You might as well sit down, this is gonna be awhile." Artemis said dryly, not even blinking as she was dragged back a few feet by the chain sticking out of her neck.

"Uh, alright then," Ino said, setting her bag on the table but remained standing. A long silence fell over the room after that, only broken by the occasional groan of agony from Naruto and the soft slurping from Artemis.

Seeing that the goddess was content with the silence, Ino returned her attention to the apartment itself. ' _Jeez, this place is so plain.'_

The walls were bare and painted a plain cream color and the only furniture beside the table and chairs was an old recliner set in front of an old dinged up TV, a couple of potted plants, a cupboard, and a small shelf a few feet to her left that held several knickknacks, a few movies, and a trio framed photos.

Her curiosity getting the better of her once more, the gossip queen walked over and picked up the middle picture. On it was a picture of a four-year-old Naruto smiling brightly as he sat on the Hokage's lap, the old man's hat sitting lopsidedly on the little blonde's head.

Ino couldn't help but giggle at the cute scene before setting the photo down and grabbing the one on the left. This one was more recent, showing the whiskered blonde with a single auburn streak in his hair wearing a formal kimono with a slightly uncomfortable yet victorious smile as he held up a bag full of goldfish while Shizune stood behind him ruffling his hair.

' _He knows the apprentice of the slug sannin?'_ Ino thought with a shocked expression, easily recognizing the raven-haired woman. The metaphoric grapevine had practically exploded when Tsunade and Shizune had returned to Konoha, so of course she knew all about them.

Shaking off her shock, the ponytailed blonde put the picture back and lifted up the last one. This one she recognized immediately, how could she not, it was the group photo her team took right after passing the genin test. She stood in the middle with a smirk on her lips, Naruto was on her right with his trademark foxy grin, Choji to her left eating a bag of BBQ chips, and Asuma stood in the back lazily smoking a cigarette.

Smiling a bit as she set the picture back in its place, Ino suddenly frowned as she realized something. ' _Why aren't there any pictures of Naruto with his parents?'_ She wondered while looking around the apartment again, confirming that there were no other pictures to be seen. ' _In fact, there's nothing suggesting anyone but him lives here.'_

Ino was nothing if attentive to detail, she had to be as a kunoichi and head gossiper of her age, and what she saw confused her. The cupboard in the kitchenette was open, allowing her to see the solitary bowl and plate amongst the food. There was only one bedroom, which after taking a quick peak inside revealed a single bed and a futon, the latter of which she knew was only recently added since she'd helped Naruto buy it for Artemis.

' _Seriously, it's like he lives here… all by… himself… By Kami I'm an idiot.'_ Ino thought with a facepalm as all the pieces finally clicked together in her mind. All the memories she had of the whiskered blonde played through her mind, his childish attitude, his lack of manners, his over boisterousness.

' _He's an orphan. How did I not know that? It makes so much sense when I think about it now.'_ Ino thought as she went over everything she knew about Naruto, with each fact practically screaming at her for missing something so obvious. However, when she got to her more recent learnings of the energetic boy, she stiffened up like a board as one key detail jumped out at her.

Her eyes slowly drifted over to Artemis, who was still casually enjoying her food with a content look. '… _He must've been so lonely.'_ She thought with a pitying look. An orphan boy who lives alone just happening to have a second personality that he saw as an older sister, yeah it didn't take a genius to see the correlation there.

Before she could delve deeper into such thoughts though, Ino was snapped back to the present as the bathroom door opened up and Naruto walked out with a relieved sigh. "Oh man that was rough."

"Well, maybe next time you'll listen to me when I say the milk is expired." Artemis said, an amused smirk crossed her lips as Naruto simply groaned in response. "Now if you're done whining, I do believe you have a guest to entertain."

Almost like a switch had been flipped, Naruto immediately perked up and turned towards Ino with a sheepish grin. "Right! Sorry for making you wait like that Ino."

"It's no problem Naruto, just show me this garden of yours already." Ino said awkwardly while trying to shove her recent revelation to the back of her mind with little success as she picked her bag back up.

"Right, follow me,"

-Flashback end-

Ino shook her head with a sigh as she stood up and headed to the door.

"Forget it I'm going home, it's been a long day and I need to get some sleep… see you later Sakura" She said without looking back, leaving a still stunned Sakura alone to her thoughts.

' _It's a good thing Naruto wasn't able to come with me like he wanted too, Kami only knows how he would have reacted if heard her say that.'_ The blonde thought as she walked down the halls of the hospital.

The energetic blonde had been forced to stay at the Hokage Tower because Hiruzen wanted Teisho to be looked over first by Tsunade and Konoha's resident 'snake expert'.

Speaking of which…

-Hokage's Tower, Private Medical Bay-

"You are an adorable little thing aren't you." One Anko Mitarashi, a purple haired woman wearing an open long brown trench coat with mesh armor underneath, said as she held Teisho up to her face with one hand. The other was using a pair of tweezers to carefully hold the small lamia's mouth open so she could see the small budding fangs and teeth inside. "Ooh, and possibly quite deadly once you're a bit older, what fun."

Putting the tweezers down, Anko moved the arm holding Teisho until it was perpendicular to her stomach before running her free hand along the tail constricting around her forearm, gently pinching it between her thumb and forefinger. "Almost entirely muscle, ribs and vertebrae are stiffer than normal. Makes sense since most of the internals are in the upper body instead and you wouldn't need to expand in order to consume food."

"A bit less flexible," Pressing her thumb against Teisho's abdomen, Anko smirked as her arm audibly groaned and started turning purple until she stopped. "But more than makes up for it with triple the gripping strength."

"So Teisho's alright?" Naruto asked nervously from the other side of the room with Tsunade, Shizune, and Hiruzen beside him.

"Relax gaki, she's fine," The purplette said, pulling the lamia off her arm and setting her down on the counter. "Gonna need some braces to straighten her teeth as they grow, otherwise as far as I can tell she's a picture of health."

"Which is where we come in." Tsunade said before picking Naruto up by the scruff of his jacket. "Have fun Shizune."

"OI! What the hell!?" Naruto yelled as he squirmed around in the medic's grasp. "Put me down baka Baa-chan!"

"No can do gaki," Tsunade stated with a wicked smirk as she walked over to a different exam room with her fellow blonde in tow. "I heard you had a little fun with a girl on your mission."

"W-what's that g-got to do with anything?!" Naruto demanded as his face reddened.

"Oh, you don't know?" Tsunade asked in a mocking tone as Naruto glowered at her. "Whenever a ninja has sex on a mission they have to have a checkup immediately after they get back, to make sure they didn't catch anything you see."

" _ **Makes sense,**_ " Artemis said as Naruto stopped squirming as much.

"…this is going to hurt a lot, isn't it?" He asked as he was set down in an exam chair and Tsunade locked the door.

Never losing her smirk, the busty blonde dug around inside a drawer and pulled out a syringe. "I'd be lying if I said no."

-Outside the Hokage Tower-

"IIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

A pair of chunin guards jumped slightly as a high pitched girly scream filled the air.

"Huh, sounds like some poor sap broke the golden rule." The one on the left said.

"Someone was dumb enough to take the last dango from the breakroom?" Asked the right one.

"No you dingus, never admit you had sex on a mission."

"Oh…. Man what a moron."

-End Chapter-

AN: I've stated this before and I'll state it again, I am not bashing on Sakura, that little hate speech of I had her say is almost entirely word for word what she actually said in both the anime and manga. And because she never had Naruto on her team, she never got tricked by him pretending to be Sasuke, thus she never stupidly said the exact same thing to the Uchiha, who she somehow didn't know was an orphan himself (seriously, how the fuck?), which meant that he never told her off for thinking like such.

As for Ino's reaction, that should be pretty obvious, she's gotten to know Naruto a bit and while she does still find him annoying at times, which even I'll admit he can be, she's starting to see that he isn't as bad as she thought he was, and even as a friend. Add in her belief that it was because he was so lonely as an orphan that caused him to 'create' Artemis, and tell me you wouldn't have acted differently.

Onto a nicer topic, as you may have figured out, Zabuza and Haku got to live. Also if you haven't noticed it yet, there is now a reading being made of this story by Hollow609, feel free to check it out. Thank you for reading and please review.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 14-

-Last Time-

 _"Huh, sounds like some poor sap broke the golden rule." The one on the left said._

 _"Someone was dumb enough to take the last dango from the breakroom?" Asked the right one._

 _"No you dingus, never admit you had sex on a mission."_

 _"Oh…. Man what a moron."_

-And Now, Naruto's apartment-

"Ow, ow, ow," Naruto whimpered as he flopped into his recliner with a bag of ice hugged to his crotch. "By Kami this hurts, I never want to go through this again."

"Agreed," Artemis said from her own seat with Teisho on her lap, gently swatting the lamia's hands whenever she tried to fiddle with the new braces in her mouth. She'd forgotten to sever her connection to Naruto's senses while Tsunade had done the tests, so she'd ended up feeling the whole process as well. _'I'd rather go on a shopping with Aphrodite again than repeat that experience._ '

As soon as this thought passed through her mind, the moon goddess paused when she felt an odd tingling sensation in her chest. Thinking it was Teisho's tail tickling her, she instinctually reached up to brush it away, only to blink in confusion when she felt nothing there.

Looking down, she confirmed that the small snake girl was still on her lap like she thought, but her tail was neatly curled up underneath her with the end being used as a headrest. Before she could contemplate this oddity for long though, her attention was drawn away by the sound of the window sliding open.

"Hello gakis!" Jiraiya said boisterously while he casually hopped into the apartment and did a silly pose. "Did you two miss me?"

' _Oh great, this idiot, just what I needed right now.'_ Artemis thought sarcastically, fixing the old man with an irritated glare.

"Ugh, what do you want Ero-sennin? Aren't you supposed to be out spying on people or something?" Naruto asked dully as he shifted around in his seat, small jolts of pain rushing through him with every movement. "And I swear if it's because you want me to do the Orioke no Jutsu for your 'research' again I will tell Tsunade-baachan that you have a picture of her in the hotsprings."

"How did you… Er, ehem, I mean," Jiraiya stumbled on his words as he tried to regain his composure. "Nothing like that gaki, I'm actually here on business."

"And what business would that be Lágnos?" Artemis asked, wanting to spend as little time as possible in this man's presence as possible.

"Well that should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Jiraiya asked back as he walked over to Naruto with an expectant look.

Said whiskered blonde sighed before lifting up his shirt and channeling chakra, causing a complex sun-like seal to appear on his stomach and a chain tattoo that coiled around his torso all the way up to the back of his neck where the chain connecting him to Artemis emerged.

Once it was fully visible Jiraiya leaned in close and carefully looked over the seal with a critical eye for several minutes before backing off. "Alright, everything seems to be alright still, no signs of degradation or damage."

"I could have told you that, I live in that damn thing after all." Artemis said while tugging on the chain sticking out of her neck for emphasis.

"And out of the two of us, which one is a seal master?" Jiraiya asked rhetorically, making the moon goddess grit her teeth in annoyance.

"If that's true then why can't you let Arty-neechan out already?" Naruto asked as he pulled his shirt back down.

"It's too much of a risk, the person who set that up made so many redundancies and traps that it would take me years just to find all of them, let alone disable or avoid." The pervert said with a shake of his head.

"Okay, then why don't we just get that person to-"

"They/She are/is dead." Jiraiya and Artemis cut in at the same time, making Naruto pout with a snap of his fingers, not noticing the slight amount of guilt that crossed Artemis's face.

She hadn't told him that it was his mother's spirit that had locked her inside of his soul, figuring that it would have just caused unneeded strife between the two of them and she needed him as cooperative as possible.

' _Besides, all telling him now would do is upset him.'_ The goddess thought with a shake of her head before returning her attention back to Jiraiya. "Alright Lágnos, you did what you needed to do, now leave."

"Ohoho, so eager to see me leave? I'm hurt gaki-chan, I thought we were friends." Jiraiya said with a mock sad face, casually dodging out of the way of the knife that was thrown at his head. "I didn't just come here to check up on the seal, in fact that was actually just an afterthought I had after I got here."

"What? Then why are you here Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked with a raised brow. Instead of getting a verbal response though, he caught a small scroll that the self-proclaimed super pervert tossed to him. Confused and curious, he opened up the roll of parchment and quickly read its contents with Artemis joining him a few seconds later.

 _Urgent Notice:_

 _Due to recent unfortunate events, all newly graduated genin will be temporarily assigned to a sensei for seven days of individual training and evaluation._

 _By order of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage_

"Oh Kami, does this mean what I think it mean?" Naruto asked as he and the goddess slowly turned their heads towards Jiraiya with looks of dread, only made worse when they saw the wide grin on his face.

"Starting today, you are going to be my new student… well students."

…

"Kuso." "Skatá." Naruto and Artemis swore at the same time with drooped heads.

"Hey! What's with the attitude? You're going to get training from one of the Sannin. I'll have you know that anyone else would be honored to have me as their teacher." Jiraiya said with a huff.

"Whatever you say Ero-sennin." Naruto said while waving the old man off.

"No respect these days," Jiraiya grumbled under his breath as he walked over to the window he'd come in from. "Anyway, I expect the both of you to be at training ground three in two hours and ready for a lot of pain."

With his piece said, Jiraiya gave the pair a salute before leaping out the window and vanishing into the village.

"I cannot stand that man, his presence is intolerable," Artemis said through grit teeth as she stood up, causing Teisho to slither up to her shoulder. "Just being near him makes me want to eviscerate something."

"I know, but Hokage-Jiji says we have to work with him, so we don't have a lot of choice in the matter." Naruto said with a shrug as the moon goddess growled softly before standing up with a small wince. "Now come on, we have two hours until then and I want to go see how Shikamaru, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke-teme are doing finally, maybe raid the med storage for some pain killers while we're at it."

"We might as well." Artemis said with a shrug, picking Teisho up off his shoulder and handing her over to Naruto before dispelling. " _Now hurry up, those pain killers sound really nice right now."_

What could she say, she was tired of feeling phantom pains in her crotch.

' _Hai Arty-neechan.'_ Naruto thought before hopping out the window like Jiraiya had.

Twenty minutes of roof hopping later, he arrived at Konoha's hospital and after a bit of asking around, getting lost twice, and a quick stop for some pain killers, soon found himself inside Shikamaru and Sasuke's room.

Shikamaru had his usual bored look on his face, his bed raised to just the right level that he could read the book he was holding, _How to Find the Best Cloud Watching Spot,_ while occasionally moving one of the pieces on the rotating shogi board sitting across his lap or eat a chip from the bag beside him every few minutes or so.

Meanwhile Sasuke looked a mixture between infuriated and depressed as a doctor had him look through a phoropter. "Which one is better Uchiha-san, one or two?"

"One."

Deciding wisely (for once) to leave that ticking bomb for later, the whiskered blonde walked over to Shikamaru and waved. "Hey Shika, I heard you guys ended up in a bit of a mess while on mission."

"It was troublesome." The lazy boy stated, not taking his eyes off his book as he idly moved another piece.

"Says the guy who thinks breathing is more trouble than it's worth at times." Naruto said, chuckling when Shikamaru shrugged in response. "But seriously, how are you doing buddy?"

"No lasting issues, they'll be releasing me tomorrow." Shikamaru said with another shrug.

"That's good to hear, I also came by to introduce you to my new friend, say hi Teisho-chan." Naruto said while petting the lamia's head gently.

"Hmmmm~"

Finally looking away from his book, the lazy Nara glanced at the snake girl with a cocked brow before going back to his book. "How troublesome, Choji told me about her earlier."

"Ah, should have figured he would." Naruto said with a chuckle. "So I-"

"Go on Naruto, we both know that I'm not the one you want to see right now," Shikamaru cut him off while pointing to the door. "Sakura is in room 207 of the Urgent Care Recovery ward."

" _He's perceptive as ever,"_ Artemis said, feeling a small amount of respect for the spiky haired boy's ability to read others. _"Take away his laziness and he'd be an ideal man for Athena have one of her brain children with."_

Unable to deny the lazy boy's statement, and ignoring Artemis's 'crazy moment', Naruto sighed as he walked towards the door. "Thanks Shikamaru, I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah, sure Naruto, whatever you say." Shikamaru said with a lazy wave of his hand, thankful that the book he was holding hid the guilt covering his face.

"Later Teme, good luck with… whatever it is you're doing." Naruto said unsurely, not having a clue at what that weird eye device Sasuke was looking through. Said broody team responded by flipping Naruto the bird, getting the whiskered boy to chuckle as he left.

Back in the hallway, Naruto walked to the other side of hospital where U.C.R. was and after a bit more looking around found the room Shikamaru had told him was Sakura's. Pushing the door open and stepping inside, his breath caught in his throat as he saw the condition his crush was in.

Sakura, who had been lost in her thoughts since her conversation with Ino, was jolted back to the present when she heard a shocked gasp. Looking to see who it was, the pinkette blinked in surprise when she was greeted by the sight of Naruto rushing over to her.

"Sakura-chan! Oh Kami, are you alright? What happened? How are you feeling?" These were just a few of the questions that flew from the blonde's mouth as he knelt beside her bed with a look of worry.

Stunned by his concern, sudden entrance, and rapid questioning, Sakura responded with the ever-intelligent response of: "…What?"

Of course, Naruto wasn't deterred for a second as he zipped around the crippled pinkette worriedly. "Do you need anything? Are you comfortable? Are you-"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled once she finally managed to regain her wits, causing the whiskered boy to freeze in place. "Calm down you ba… I'm alright, mostly."

"Oh right, sorry Sakura-chan." Naruto muttered sheepishly, missing Sakura's brief hesitation when she spoke. Artemis did not however, and within the seal her gaze narrowed as she watched the armless pinkette through Naruto's eyes. "It's just that I heard what happened then I saw you there and I was so worried."

"It's alright, I've been getting that a lot lately." Sakura said slowly and neutrally, like she was carefully picking out the words to say. Naruto didn't think twice about it, figuring she was just shaken up from her recent trauma.

Because what reasonable person wouldn't be shaken after having their arms cut off? ("Hey! I had both my arms torn off and you don't see me bitching!" I said reasonable Deidara, not bat-shit crazy. "I'm not crazy, you're just jealous of my art!" Oh, don't you da-*Boom*)

Artemis knew better.

She'd had many young girls of various ages join her hunt throughout her existence, most of which had been in varying states of emotional and physical distress, the latter of which usually ended with her shooting some foolish male mortal. As such, she was easily able to recognize this girl's actions as one of unsureness and self-confusion instead of unease and depression.

' _ **Somebody gave her a reality check, and a big one by the looks of it.'**_ Artemis thought, having seen similar reactions when she or her more experienced hunters would help girls who had been in denial about something. ' _ **Question is, what was it about?'**_

"Still, I heard you were hurt, but I didn't think… I'm sorry this happened to you." Naruto said, struggling to come up with something to say that would make her feel better.

"You and me both," Sakura muttered, looking down at her 'arms' sadly as she wiggled the useless stubs. Shaking her head to clear the depressing thoughts, Sakura looked around quickly for something to change the subject before settling her sights on Naruto's shoulder. "Sooo, you gonna introduce me to your little friend there or what?"

Blinking in confusion for a few seconds, Naruto smiled widely once he realized who she was talking about and gently nudged Teisho, who had started to doze. Waking up with a slight start, the little lamia looked at Naruto with a confused hum.

"Hey Teisho-chan, look, someone wants to meet you." Naruto told her while pointing to Sakura, causing the snake girl to look at the pinkette before slithering down the extended arm. When she reached his hand, her tail coiled up around the forearm and she leaped onto Sakura's bed, her wings fluttering slightly as she 'soared'.

"Sakura-chan, Teisho-chan, Teisho-chan, Sakura-chan." Naruto introduced simply, not feeling the need to say more as he watched Teisho slither up and settle onto Sakura's chest, staring straight into the pinkette's green eyes with her amber ones brimming with innocent curiosity.

"Hello Teisho-chan, aren't you a cute little thing." Sakura said, smiling softly with a slight tilt of her head, inwardly squealing in delight when Teisho mimicked her.

"Hmmmm~"

"Daww, you have such a sweet voice too." Sakura gushed while using her longer arm stub to pet Teisho before squealing aloud when the little lamia started snuggling against her cheek.

On the side, Naruto grinned as he saw his crush cheer up a little bit thanks to Teisho's antics, chuckling a bit when she started unintentionally tickling Sakura with her wings. " _Sorry to interrupt such a sweet moment, but we need to get going Naruto."_

Glancing up at a nearby clock, the blonde swore under his breath as he saw that he had barely twenty minutes until Jiraiya expected them at training ground three. ' _Aw crap, the training grounds are on the other side of the village.'_

Looking back at Sakura though, Naruto bit his lip as he watched the crippled girl smiling and laughing as Teisho played with her. Not wanting to break the two up after such a short amount of time, Naruto tried to come up with a solution without avail.

*Sigh* " _Just leave Teisho here with a clone to watch her."_ Artemis stated in exasperation, moments like this reminding her that her 'landlord' wasn't the smartest individual. _"We can't take her to training anyway, she might get hurt."_

' _Oh right,'_ Naruto thought sheepishly as he quickly formed said clone, startling Sakura by accident when the doppelganger appeared in a poof of smoke. "You know what to do."

' _What? When could Naruto make clones? And solid ones at that?'_ She asked herself in shock as the Kage Bunshin saluted Naruto before walking over to her bedside and taking a seat.

"Sorry Sakura-chan but I have to go, hope you don't mind me leaving Teisho-chan here with you for a bit, if you need anything ask the clone, bye." Naruto said quickly as he rushed out of the room.

"Uh… alright then." Sakura muttered awkwardly, her eyes flickering from Clone Naruto and the door in confusion while Teisho curled up in the crook of her neck and fell asleep. ' _I'm starting to think I'm in a coma, cause I'm pretty sure the worlds going loopy.'_

Hopping across Konoha as fast as he could, Naruto landed in training ground three with less than a minute to spare. Said training ground consisted of a large clearing surrounded by thick forests with a river cutting through one side.

In the middle of the clearing stood three wooden post, with Jiraiya sitting on the middle one with an amused look on his face. "You're cutting it a little close there gaki. What took you so long?"

"Just checking up on my friends really quick," Naruto said with a shrug, "Now what kinda training are we doing Ero-sennin? Fighting? New Jutsu?"

"All in good time gaki, all in good time," Jiraiya said while hopping off the post, landing beside the whiskered blonde with a goofy grin as he patted the boy's back. "But first, I've been hearing rumors that somebody got to have a little fun with a princess while on mission."

"Ugh, not this kuso again." Naruto groaned in annoyance while sending the old pervert a withering glare. "I'll say it once, and only once, do not ask or else."

"Oh come on gaki, you gotta tell me something, just a few details!" Jiraiya begged as he pulled out a notepad and pen. "What did she look like? Did she have big boobs? How long did you two go at it? What positi- Hey, where are you going?"

"To Tsunade-baachan's place! Let's see how she likes those pictures of yours!" Naruto yelled as he bolted off, causing Jiraiya to gain an alarmed expression before giving chase.

"NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

"I warned you Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya learned two things this day…

It is physically possible to tie a person into a knot, and Uzumakis do not bluff.

-End Chapter-

Translations:

Lagnos: Lecher

Skata: Shit

AN: Filler chapter, sorry. But don't worry, the action will be kicking up again soon. Thank you for reading and please review.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 15-

-Last Time-

 _"To Tsunade-baachan's place! Let's see how she likes those pictures of yours!" Naruto yelled as he bolted off, causing Jiraiya to gain an alarmed expression before giving chase._

 _"NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!"_

 _"I warned you Ero-sennin!"_

 _Jiraiya learned two things this day…_

 _It is physically possible to tie a person into a knot, and Uzumakis do not bluff._

-And Now-

In the middle of training ground three, Naruto stood amidst a plethora of chopped up logs with the Dancing Lunar Blades in hand, his breathing ragged and sweat dripping from his brow. Staring at the only intact chunk of timber still standing, the blonde raised his arms as his daggers gained a soft blue glow before swiping at the wood several times in a split second.

When he stopped, nothing seemed to happen at first, but after several seconds thin lines appeared in the log before it collapsed into a pile of blocks.

Hearing a rustle, Naruto turned his head to the side to see Jiraiya limping towards him with several parts of his body covered in bruises or bandages.

"Not bad Gaki, looks like you're starting to get this exercise down finally." The old man said while picking up one of the chunks and examining it thoroughly. "Pretty jagged still but certainly better than that butchery work you did the first few times."

"Well that tends to happen when you're forced to do the same thing two hours a day for a week straight." Naruto said as he dispelled his weapons and picking up a water bottle that was laying on the ground next to him.

For the past week Jiraiya had been putting Naruto through an aggressive exercise schedule that focused on improving the whiskered blonde's chakra control and physical conditioning up to the self-proclaimed super pervert's standards. This meant several tedious hours of water over a boiling hot hotspring, weight training with boulders, Taijutsu spars that generally ended with Naruto embedded into the earth, and chakra manipulation such as what he was doing a second ago.

These training sessions were so intense that by the end, Naruto would be so exhausted that Artemis would have to literally carry his battered, and sometimes passed out, form home. It was worth it though as Naruto was already starting to show improvement, if only a little bit.

"You know what they say Gaki, practice makes perfect." Jiraiya stated while tossing the chunk of wood over his shoulder.

"Yeah Ero-sennin, I get it. Now are you gonna teach me a new jutsu like you promised or not?" Naruto asked impatiently after gulping down several swigs of water.

"I'm getting to that." The hermit said while pulling out a small scroll and tossing it to the blonde. Quickly unrolling it, Naruto's brow rose in confusion when all he saw was a basic storage seal. Channeling chakra into it curiously, his confusion quickly turned to disbelief then just as quickly into annoyance when it released…

"Water balloons? Seriously? Is this some kinda stupid joke?" Naruto asked angrily as he picked up the bucket filled with said liquid filled rubber bubbles.

"Hold your horses Gaki, let me explain before you get mad." Jiraiya said with his hands held up in a placating manner.

" _Fine but talk fast Lágnos, our patience is starting to wear thin."_ Artemis stated through Naruto with a frown. This entire week had been one large chore for her as she had to constantly restrain the urge to possess Naruto and strangle the perverted sage.

Especially since the man spent ninety percent of his time peeping on women and/or writing smut, only stopping long enough to give Naruto his next task.

"Relax Gaki-chan, I'm getting there," Jiraiya said calmly, making Artemis give a scowl of annoyance that Naruto kept when she retreated back into the seal. "These here are part of the first step for learning… this."

As he spoke, the hermit held out one of his hands as a surge of chakra expelled from it and immediately started to condense above his palm. In just a few seconds, the energy had formed into a spiraling blue ball of energy roughly the size of a baseball that Jiraiya promptly smashed into the ground, creating a large crater beneath his feet. "Rasengan!"

…

"…Okay, you have my attention." Naruto said, drooling slightly at the prospect of learning such a technique.

"Good, what you just saw is called the Rasengan, an A-rank ninjutsu for very obvious reasons as you can see." Jiraiya said as he stepped out of the hole he'd just made before grabbing one of the water balloons. "There are three steps to learning how to use this technique, the first of which is to pop one of these by spinning your chakra inside of it, like so."

Suddenly the balloon in his hand started to bubble wildly until it burst, launching water and rubber everywhere.

"Once you manage to do that, come find me and I'll show you the next step. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some research to attend to." Jiraiya stated with a perverted giggle before vanishing in a plume of smoke, leaving Naruto and Artemis alone in the field.

"Whatever you say Ero-sennin." Naruto muttered as he sat down on the ground with a huff and grabbed one of the balloons. "This had better not be a stupid joke of his."

 _ **"I doubt it is, perverted idiot that man may be,**_ *Poof* but he seemed to be speaking honestly about this exercise." Artemis stated as she possessed a clone Naruto spawned for her and took a balloon for herself. "Let's just get this over with, it shouldn't take us that long to…"

-Several hours later-

"Why won't this fucking thing pop!" Artemis yelled in irritation while glaring at the water balloon in her hand as it sloshed from side to side.

"I don't know!" Naruto yelled back, equally frustrated from the lack of progress. Finally, his anger got to be too much and he accidentally squished the balloon. Groaning in annoyance, he shook the water off before flopping onto his back. "I think we should call it a day, it's getting pretty late and we're getting nowhere right now."

"Agreed," The goddess said while tossing her balloon over her shoulder and allowing herself to dispel. " _ **Besides, we need to go pick up Teisho**_."

"That we do nee-chan, that we do." Naruto said as he pushed himself off the ground, stretching a bit to work the kinks out of his stiff muscles before leaping into the air.

Several minutes of tree then roof-hopping later, Naruto landed right in front of the hospital entrance with a grunt and darted inside, blowing right past the front desk attendant before he realized what happened.

Zipping through the many hallways with ease, it only took Naruto a minute or so this time to locate the door he was looking for. Pushing it open, the blonde smiled softly at the scene he was greeted with inside.

Sakura still lay on her bed, but she was looking a bit healthier than she had before, having regained both some weight and some color thanks to a special heavy calorie diet. Not only that, but she was also clearly in a much better mood given the genuine smile on her lips as opposed to grim blankness.

And all of this was thanks to a certain chibi snake girl currently sitting on the pinkette's chest with a small children's book laid out in front of her.

"…Thus the little duckling kept looking, never losing hope that it would…" Sakura read aloud, trailing off at the end when she heard the door open.

"Hey you guys, I'm not interrupting anything am i?" Naruto asked with a grin while he walked into the room.

"Not at all," Sakura said, giggling a little as Teisho slithered over to the side of the bed and held her arms out towards Naruto expectantly. "In fact, someone was really eager for you to get back."

"Right, hope you aren't mad at me Teisho-chan for making you wait again." The whiskered blonde said while walking up to the pair and gently picking up the little Lamia.

Smiling back at him, Teisho shook her head before slithering up Naruto's arm and hugging the side of his neck. "Pava here, nah mad."

For the entire week, whenever Naruto was training with Jiraiya the boy would leave Teisho with Sakura, both to keep the pinkette company and the snake girl out of harm's way. Sakura made good use of this time though and started teaching Teisho how to speak with some help from Shizune, who'd been assigned as the armless girl's doctor.

The lamia was a surprisingly fast study, having already memorized at least three to four dozen words. On the other hand though, since her vocal cords were still adjusting to the strain of actual use, she could only speak in short bursts and what she did say would come out somewhat jumbled.

"Ah Teisho-chan, you're such a sweetheart." Yet none of that mattered to Naruto as he returned the hug. "But still, I got you something to make up to you."

Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out a small package of sesame seed covered tuna sushi and held it up to the small snake girl.

"Hmmmmmmmm~" Not even trying to speak, a happy hum filled the air as Teisho grabbed a piece of the seafood and started nomming on it with a content smile.

With her occupied for the time being, Naruto turned his attention back towards Sakura, his smile softening as he took a seat next to the pinkette's bed. "Thanks for watching over her Sakura-chan, I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem, so how did your training go?" Sakura asked, her own expression gaining a hint of awkwardness to it, though Naruto thankfully didn't notice. Ever since Ino's little outburst towards her and Naruto's subsequent frequent visits, the pinkette had began to see what her frenemy had been talking about.

Sure Naruto still had his annoying and/or idiotic moments that grated on her nerves, such as him speaking so informally with the Tsunade Senju, but they were a lot less frequent than she thought they would be. Not only that, but Naruto's honest concern and dedication for her wellbeing and was simply astounding to her now that she'd bothered to pay attention.

He'd get her favorite foods whenever she felt hungry, did his best to keep her company so she wasn't lonely, and got her whatever she asked for without hesitation. He'd went out of his way this whole week to make sure she stayed happy…

…and she didn't understand why.

She'd done nothing but insult him, ignore him, make fun of him, and beat him up for as far as she could remember knowing him. Yet despite all that, he still sat before her, happily telling her how his day went while gently petting Teisho's tail. It just didn't make sense to her one bit.

"…Then Ero-sennin copped out again to go peeping, leaving me and nee-chan to figure out the first step for ourselves." Naruto said with an annoyed huff as he got to the end of the story. "Arty-nee is still pretty steamed at him."

" _ **Understatement,**_ " Artemis said dully. " _ **That man is lucky that I am trapped inside here, otherwise he'd be enjoying a new life as a Jackalope.**_ "

"I can imagine," Sakura said while sitting up, frowning a bit as she thought of the hermit, well aware of both his status as a sannin and his infamy as a proud pervert. "Well, Artemis-san my condolences for having to deal with that."

On the third day of the week, Naruto had accidentally let his 'condition' slip when he mentioned Artemis while was telling Sakura about how his day went. When the pinkette naturally became curious about this Arty-nee, Naruto soon caved and told her about the goddess currently living inside his soul.

" _Your words are appreciated,"_ Artemis said, briefly taking control to give Sakura a nod of gratitude.

"So how are you doing?" Naruto asked, getting Sakura to smile once more.

"Pretty good actually, Shizune-san said that she and Tsunade-sama have almost gotten a set of workable prosthetics made for me."

Inspired by Suna's puppet users, the two medic-nin had come up with a set of wooden arms with special chakra conductive cords lined inside. In theory, these could be attached to Sakura's stumps and her chakra set to flow through them, thus allowing her to manipulate them like real arms.

This would allow the pinkette to at least gain some normality in life, such as being able to feed and bath herself without assistance.

"Really? That's great news!" Naruto said while pulling Sakura into a hug, one that she allowed for a whole five seconds before shaking him off, a new record.

"Don't get too excited Naruto, it'll still be at least another week before they are even ready for testing." The pinkette said with a roll of her eyes before grinning somewhat mischievously. "Now, what's this I hear from Ino about a second date you have planned with Hinata?"

"Oh for the love of… It's not a date!" Naruto exclaimed in exasperation as he slumped into his seat. Yesterday the whiskered blonde had run into his shy bluenette friend while shopping and after a bit of back and forth ended up agreeing to meet up at the former's apartment tonight to catch up on recent events.

Unfortunately, Hinata had gone back to Mrs. Yamanaka for advice and a certain gossip-happy blonde had overheard their conversation who then proceeded to tell Sakura, having gotten somewhat over her anger with the pinkette over the course of the week.

Giggling loudly at Naruto's reaction, Sakura fixed Naruto with a knowing look. "Oh really? Are you not having dinner with her tonight?"

"Well yeah-"

"And isn't said dinner going to be at your place?"

"Yes but-"

"Then it's a date," Sakura stated victoriously as she settled back down on her bed. "Speaking of which, you should get going soon or you're to be late."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto glanced at the clock hanging on the wall before standing up and walking off, Teisho waving goodbye over his shoulder.

Once they were gone, Sakura giggled softly with a slight shake of her head. "Now I get why Ino loves to do that with people, that was funny as hell."

-Twenty Minutes Later, Naruto's Apartment-

"Why does everyone keep insisting that me and Hinata are dating?" Naruto asked as he made some bear meat stir-fry, Teisho still sitting on his shoulder only now chewing on an apple slice while occasionally holding something for Naruto with her tail. "I mean can't a guy and girl hang out together without everyone assuming it's a date?"

"Only if the male and female in question are related, although that isn't always true at times." Artemis stated bluntly as she sharpened an arrowhead, adding the last bit since her family wasn't exactly shy about incest. Hell, her father was married to his sister for crying out loud.

Giving the goddess an odd look, Naruto instinctually scooched away from her slightly as he finished cooking and started divvying up the food. "Uh, okay then, if you say so."

Noticing his odd reaction, Artemis raised a brow in confusion…

…before palming her face with a light blush of embarrassment as she realized how easily misunderstood her words could sound out of context.

Before she could try and clear that up though, a soft knocking echoed through the air, causing the 'siblings' to turn their attention to the front door.

"That's gotta be Hinata now," Naruto said, quickly setting the served plates and Teisho on the table before walking towards the door and pulling it open. "Hey Hinata-chan, you're just in tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…"

Naruto trailed off midsentence, his jaw practically hitting the dirt as he stared out his open doorway with bugged out eyes, or more specifically at the person standing in front of it.

It was indeed Hinata like he thought, but that is where what he was expecting ended and surprise hit like a semi-truck. Instead of her usual cream-colored jacket and blue short-pants that he was used to seeing her in, the shy Hyuga was wearing a lovely violet sundress with matching sandals while a soft mauve flower was resting just above her left ear.

The lavender-eyed girl herself was blushing bright red as she fidgeted slightly under her crush's gaze. "H-hello N-Naruto-kun, m-may I c-come in?"

Snapping out of his stupor, Naruto nodded his head rapidly while moving to the side, his voice refusing to work at the moment.

' _Looks like somebody is finally pulling out all the stops.'_ Artemis thought with a cocked brow when she saw Hinata, easily able to figure out why the normally shy and reserved girl was dressed as such. The girl had almost definitely heard about Naruto's… 'lunch' with a princess and had decided upon finally taking a more aggressive approach towards getting the oblivious blonde's attention.

She'd seen similar reactions many times many times in the past in both female animals and humans, and was usually one of the first signs that a hunter was about to go astray from her group.

Deciding to break the tension that had built up between the two, the moon goddess cleared her throat just loud enough to get both of their attention. "Hello Hinata, I'm pleased to see you could make it. I was concerned that your father may have prevented you from leaving due to the late hour."

"F-Father did voice h-his worries," Hinata said with an understanding nod, "But I-I w-was able to c-convince him that I w-would b-be able to t-take care of m-myself."

-At the Hyuga Estate-

Hiashi Hyuga had a neutral expression as he sat in his office with his fingers steepled, not even blinking as a young Hyuga woman walked up to him and bowed. "Hiashi-sama, Hinata-sama made it to her destination without incident."

"Did she notice you following her?" The man asked neutrally, getting the woman to shake her head negatively. "Good, continue to check up on her every fifteen minutes until she comes home. And remember, if that boy upsets my daughter or tries anything that she does not consent to…"

He left the sentence hanging but the message was loud and clear as the woman saluted with a firm "Yes Hiashi-sama." before leaving once more.

Nobody messed with his little girl, and anyone who tried will end up suffering unimaginably.

-Back at Naruto's-

Naruto shivered slightly as a cold feeling of dread ran down his spine, before looking around in confusion at what caused such a feeling. Not finding anything to explain the sensation, he shrugged it off for the time being and returned his attention back to Hinata, who was still making some small talk with Artemis.

"Your dress is lovely, is it new?"

"N-no, i-it's actually one o-of my mother's o-old d-dresses."

"Ah, well I'm sure she would have been very pleased to see you in it, it suits you well."

"You r-really think so?"

"I do, and I'm not the only one." Artemis said while giving Naruto a pointed look, causing said boy to blush while Hinata's grew slightly darker before the goddess motioned to the table. "Please have a seat, the food is starting to get cold."

"Oh, o-of course," The shy girl said as she sat down across from the goddess. "T-thank you f-for t-the food."

"Don't worry about it, I've been meaning to try this recipe for a while now anyway." Naruto said with a wave of his hand, taking his own seat next to Hinata.

"It would seem that you weren't the only either." Artemis said, pointing down to her lap where Teisho had curled up and fallen asleep, having finished her entire plate already. "We best start eating ourselves before she decides to eat it for us."

"Good idea." Naruto said with a chuckle while Hinata giggles softly before the pair turned their attention towards each-other. "So… how have you been doing?"

-End Chapter-

AN: I am sorry for the late update, I was so focused on getting my other stories updated on time that I didn't realize how long it had been since this I've updated this one. On that note, this is another filler and I'm sorry about that and for the short chapter. Before any of you complain that Naruto isn't learning summons yet, that'll be explained soon. Thank you for reading and please review.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 16-

-Last Time-

 _"It would seem that you weren't the only either." Artemis said, pointing down to her lap where Teisho had curled up and fallen asleep, having finished her entire plate already. "We best start eating ourselves before she decides to eat it for us."_

 _"Good idea." Naruto said with a chuckle while Hinata giggles softly before the pair turned their attention towards each-other. "So… how have you been doing?"_

-And Now, Unknown Location-

Inside a dark chamber, a pale skinned man with pitch black hair, snake-like eyes, and pale purplish coloration around his eyes sat on a throne surrounded by a large stone serpent as a pale-haired young man wearing rounded spectacles bowed before him.

"So… you cover was blown thanks to the actions of your late subordinate's carelessness Kabuto?" The snake-like man asked with a slightly raised brow as the now named Kabuto nodded.

"Unfortunately so Orochimaru-sama, it would appear that despite my constant insistence, Kemak-san was foolish enough to leave his notes devoid of any form of coding or security." Kabuto said, a scowl set on his face as he spoke. "So when the teams Konoha sent to Omocha happened upon his lab before the sterilization team I sent _,_ they got full access to everything right away."

Humming lowly at these words, Orochimaru steepled his fingers as he leaned back into his seat. "That is most unfortunate, this puts a hamper on my plans for Konoha, which already has enough problems if what you've told me of Sasuke-san's condition is true."

"Indeed Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said while bowing his head again. Orochimaru was a man of great ambition, the main of which was to learn all there was to about the world, particularly Ninjutsu. To help achieve this goal, he'd intended to 'acquire' Sasuke for his Sharingan eyes which could copy any technique they saw that wasn't based on a bloodline. "The damage was mostly fixed by Tsunade-san and her apprentice, but his Sharingan is now stuck in its semi-mature state with less than a three percent chance of full recovery."

"Ahh, such a shame, and I had such great plans for those eyes. Looks like I'll just have to wait until I manage to collect a fully functional pair through other means." Orochimaru said with a dissatisfied sigh. "You wouldn't happen to have any good news?"

"Actually I do sir," Kabuto said, his head rising in time to see the brief flicker of surprise that crossed his master's face before he held out a small vial. "Before the Hokage increased security, I was able to both successfully implant a new mole into Konoha and swipe this from the hospital's deep storage during my escape."

Accepting the vial, Orochimaru smirk as he read the Kanji written on the side. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around Kabuto, even in the face of these unexpected circumstances you never fail to both surprise and please me."

"I live to serve you, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said proudly with another incline of his head. "And if I may be so brazen, I do believe I have an idea that could help us overcome those unfortunate setbacks you mentioned."

"I'm listening." Orochimaru stated as he carefully tucked the vial away inside a hidden pocket of his vest.

"Well as you may already know, supposedly the Kyuubi Jinchuricki will be in the chunin exams this year. And it would be most… unfortunate for Konoha if something unexpected happened to said Jinchuriki during the second stage, would it not?"

The mad grin on Orochimaru's face was all the answer he needed.

-Konoha Training Ground 10-

"Uh, is Naruto alright?" Ino asked as she, Choji, Asuma, and Anko, who was holding a napping Teisho since she would be looking after the Lamia for the day since Sakura couldn't, looked down in worry and/or confusion at the whisker-faced boy.

He was sitting against a tree with a shocked expression frozen on his face, staring towards the sky with glazed eyes and red handprints on both cheeks. Beside him, an exasperated Artemis stood rubbing her forehead. 

"He's fine, just recovering from a rather unexpected big surprise that happened last night." Artemis said dully, shaking her head as she remembered what happened.

-Flashback, Last Night-

 _"This was a great night Hinata-chan, we should do something like this again sometime." Naruto said as he opened the front door for the bluenette._

 _"Y-yeah, I a-agree," Hinata said with a small nervous smile as she shuffled passed her crush and into the hallway before looking back towards Artemis, who was seated back in one of the recliners sharpening an arrowhead. "I-I mean, as long as t-that's okay with you A-Artemis-san."_

 _"I don't mind, it is rather nice to have some female company to talk to."_ _The goddess said while looking over her work with a critical eye. Naruto may be one of the few males in existence that Artemis could truly say she liked, she still preferred to hang out with members of the fairer sex._

 _"See, no problems," Naruto said with a wide grin before yawning deeply and rubbing one of his eyes. "But let's talk about that more later, it's getting pretty late and we both got team training tomorrow. Goodnight Hinata-chan."_

 _With that said, he started to close the door, but was stopped halfway through when Hinata's hands shoved it back open with a meek shout of "W-Wait!"_

 _"What's wrong Hinata-chan? Did you forget something?" The whiskered boy asked, his head tilting in confusion while he watched the shy girl fidget, her face a bright 'Embarrassed Hinata Red (Patent Pending)' as she seemed to be coaxing herself up for something. "Hello? Hinat- what the?"_

 _Naruto was cut off mid-sentence as the lavender-eyed girl gained a sudden look of courageousness and grabbed the front of his jacket._

 _…_

 _…_

 _Artemis paused in her work as she noticed the complete lack of sound coming from the doorway. Peering in that direction curiously, honest shock spread across her face at the sight she found herself viewing._

 _Hinata was pressing her lips right up to Naruto's, her eyes gleaming with pure excitement and happiness even as steam was literally erupting from her head like a geyser. Finally after what felt like an eternity, in reality two minutes, the shy girl broke the kiss and practically teleported away from how fast she ran, leaving a trench in the floor from the speed she was moving as a high-pitched squeal rang out._

 _Breaking out of her stunned state after a few more seconds, Artemis adopted a dull expression as she stood up and walked over to Naruto's unmoving form._

" _As that lazy friend of yours would say, you are an extremely troublesome blonde." She said before smacking her 'landlord' across the face in an attempt to snap him out of his shock, only to end up sweatdropping as he fell over like a statue, even swearing she could her a ceramic shattering sound when he hit the floor._

-End Flashback-

Ever since then Naruto had been completely frozen in shock, even after Artemis smacked him a grand total of 101 times and gave him a three-hour long ice-cold shower. She could only imagine how Hinata herself was doing right now.

-Training Ground 8-

"Well somebody seems to be in a good mood," Kiba said as he, Shino, and Kurenai arrived at their regular training ground to find Hinata already enthusiastically practicing her clan's signature Gentle Fist with a bright smile. "I wonder what happened."

"So am I." Kurenai muttered with a raised brow, extremely curious why her normally shy and withdrawn pupil was suddenly acting like she could take on an army single handed.

-Back to Artemis and Co-

"Oh, well try doing something that is just as or more surprising to him, that supposedly does the trick." Ino said, having heard of people being 'stuck in shock' through the grapevine.

"Hmm, worth a try I guess." Artemis said with a shrug before randomly taking Teisho from Anko and whispering something into the scantily clad kunoichi's ear that made her eyes widen briefly before a mischievous grin spread across her lips.

"You really want me to do that?" She asked, getting a nod from Artemis while the others wondered what exactly Artemis said. "Well I'll admit that sounds funny as hell, but what's in it for me?"

"I'll give you double the dango for babysitting Teisho today and tell you exactly what happened to leave him in this state." Artemis offered, getting Anko to hum in interest as she considered the deal.

"Alright, but tell me what happened first." The purplette said after a minute, getting another nod from the goddess before whispering in the former's ear again. By the time she finished thirty seconds later, Anko's whole body was shaking as she struggled to suppress the laughter that wanted to escape her. "BWAHAHA! OH MY KAMI THAT'S PRICELESS! BWAHAHA!"

…she failed, badly.

Whilst the dango-loving woman rolled on the ground howling in laughter, Ino felt her own curiosity skyrocket as her gossip radar was ringing at full alert. However, despite how much she wanted to simply wring the information out of Artemis at that very moment, the platinum blonde restrained herself.

She knew that if she tried to push for the info, the chained goddess would either give her another of those terrifying looks that would haunt the gossip queen for days (and make her crave carrots for some odd reason she still didn't understand) or would lay her out on her ass… just like she did last time Ino got too pushy.

' _Never again,'_ Ino thought with a shiver as she remembered that particular incident. It had been while she was at Naruto's garden for the first time and she'd wanted to get to know more about both Naruto and Hinata's 'relationship' and about Naruto in general after the surprising she'd found upon her visit.

She'd tried the same thing she'd did in the alley way with Naruto and Artemis didn't take to kindly to it, at all.

Once she'd finally managed to get her laughter under control, Anko got back up to her feet with a Cheshire grin as she turned to Artemis, who was busy trying to coax a now awake Teisho back to sleep. "Man, that was the funniest thing I've heard all week. You have definitely got a deal Gaki."

"Then would please hold up your end of the bargain already?" The goddess demanded somewhat impatiently, her eyebrow twitching a little when the purplette ruffled her hair playfully.

"You got it," Anko said before walking over to where Naruto was sitting and hoisting him up to his feet. "I hope you've got a sweet tooth blondie, cause you about to get some sugar."

With this statement made, Anko pulled Naruto into a kiss, and not just some simply lovey dovey just lips kiss. Oh no, this was Anko Mitarashi we're talking about, and she either goes all the way or not at all, proven by the slight wiggling of Naruto's cheeks.

It did the trick though as Naruto lost his glazed gaze before the whiskered blonde blinked a few times in confusion when he found himself staring into a familiar pair of pupil-less brown eyes and felt something soft and spongy wrapping around his tongue, causing the small appendage to wiggle reflexively.

Once his brain finally caught up with what he was seeing though, Naruto's eyes practically popped out of his head from surprise before he jerked away from Anko, breaking the lip-lock with a loud pop and a gasp.

"Gah! What the hell are you doing Anko-san!?" He demanded as he squirmed around uselessly in the woman's grasp.

"Just doing a quick favor for someone," Anko said while letting the blonde go, causing him to land on his ass with a grunt and shoot her a dirty look. "You're not a bad kisser by the way, not superb but definitely pretty got some talent."

His face turning red at these words, Naruto sputtered out several incoherent sentences, making Anko chuckle as she took the once again napping Teisho back from Artemis.

"This has certainly been a fun way to start the day, but it's time for me to get going, chao!" The purplette said with a wide grin before her and Teisho vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving Naruto a stuttering mess that only stopped once Artemis pinched his cheek with a dull look and pulled him up to his feet.

"Why couldn't I have a normal team?" Asuma asked himself quietly with a sigh before clearing his throat loudly to get the groups attention. "Well now that that… excitement is over with, I have some big news to share with you all."

"Is it a mission?" Choji asked, being the least affected by the odd series of events that had just transpired.

"No but good guess," Asuma said before pulling out three packets of paperwork and handing them to his students. "The actual news is that all of you have been nominated for the Chunin Exams that will be starting tomorrow at eleven AM."

"What!?" Ino exclaimed, making Naruto and Choji jump from the sudden yell. "The Chunin Exams!? Seriously!?"

"Yes Ino, that's what I said." Asuma stated, sighing once more as Ino gasped dramatically before jumping around excitedly.

"Uh… what are the Chunin Exams?" Naruto asked worriedly, hoping that it wasn't some sort of extra classes or worse a paper test he'd have to take.

Having an idea what the blonde was thinking, Asuma rolled his eyes before explaining further. "Calm down Naruto, the Chunin Exams consists of three trials which vary each time that one has to pass on hopes of getting promoted, so you won't be doing any paper tests… probably."

"That sentence does not inspire confidence Entotsu-Sensei." Naruto stated dully.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway we won't be training today since I want all of you to consider whether or not you actually want to participate in this event. This isn't something you should just jump into half-cocked, people have and will die in these exams." Asuma said, getting Ino to stop cheering as an air of seriousness enveloped the group.

"I was planning to tell you all about this a week ago so you'd have more time to decide if you are ready or not, but recent events got in the way. That's all I have for you today, see you tomorrow." With his piece said, Asuma was engulfed in a puff of pungent cigarette smoke that left the quartet coughing.

"By Hades, I hate when he does that." Artemis said between coughs angrily while waving the smoke out of her face.

"Which is why he does that I'm sure," Naruto said equally irritated before turning around and walking off. "Come on Arty-neechan, we better go get Teisho since training is cancelled for the day."

"Yeah, you're… wait a minute," Artemis cut herself off as she realized something. Being a special Jonin, Anko almost certainly knew about this upcoming event and that Asuma would be telling team Ten they'd been nominated for it, which also meant that she'd known that Teisho wouldn't need babysat today.

As she pieced these bits of information together, Artemis developed a deep scowl as her face turned an interesting shade of purplish-red. "Why that sneaky little…"

-Across Town-

"AAAANKOOO!"

"Hm, sounds like she figured it out already." Anko said to herself with a chuckle as she heard the scream of anger and frustration ring out. The purplette was reclined in a tree with Teisho curled up on her exposed stomach, both happily munching on sticks of dango.

"Mama Mav." Teisho said between bites, getting Anko's smirk to widen as she patted the Lamia's head.

"Yep, Mama very mad."

-Meanwhile, Hokage's Tower-

Hiruzen was calmly going through the numerous stacks of paperwork that his position entailed when he heard the distinct sound of the window opening. "You know, there is a door for a reason."

"Yeah, but I still prefer this way," Jiraiya said cheekily as he climbed in the window and took a seat before the elderly Kage. "So what did you call me in for Sensei? I was in the middle of my research when I got your summons."

"Jiraiya, enough joking around, I need you to be serious right now," Hiruzen said, making the self-proclaimed super-pervert drop his joking attitude and adopt a blank face. "Since teams Nine and Ten returned with the notes from the lab they'd discovered, we have discovered no less then six spies working for Orochimaru under our noses for years, with all but one having gotten away before we could apprehend them. Kami only knows what form of intel they took with them."

"That certainly is a cause of worry," Jiraiya said as his brows knit together. "So what do you want me to do, dig around and see if I can route out the rest of them?"

"No, we both know that any remaining spies have either fled or gone to ground deep enough to hide until this blows over. What I want you to do is personally oversee the security for the Chunin Exams, since according to the one spy we did catch, Orochimaru has something planned for them." Hiruzen said, getting his old pupil to nod in understanding.

"Got it Sensei, I'll set up every precaution I can think of right away." Jiraiya said as he stood up to leave.

"Oh hold up, before you go," Hiruzen called out, making the toad sannin stop mid-step. "Have you made any progress as of to why Naruto has been unable to sign the toad contract?"

This had been a bit of a puzzle for the pair since Jiraiya had attempted to teach Naruto summoning during the week of remedial training. For some reason, when Naruto tried to sign his name on the contract it had fizzled away into nothing a few seconds afterwards, which should only happen if someone tried to put a fake name upon the document.

"Yeah, seems Kushina's last work caused a few more issues then we'd thought." Jiraiya said, making Hiruzen quirk a brow.

"Explain."

"The seal Kushina used to contain Naruto's other personality was basically a patch-job by Fuinjutsu standards, something she likely slapped together with what little time she had to work with. Now don't get me wrong, it's still one of the best damn seals I've ever seen but she was clearly rushing when she made it."

"You already told me this when you first examined the seal Jiraiya, get to the point already." Hiruzen stated impatiently.

"Mah, mah, I'm getting there sensei," Jiraiya said while holding his hands up placating. "Anyway, instead of using a proper containment seal, it looks like she was forced to use a simpler binding seal that is held together by the eight trigrams that had already been there and parts of a soul connection seal."

"This is why Naruto and Artemis are able to interact with each-other so easily, because she is quite literally anchored to part of his soul. And it seems that the more these two interact, the stronger that anchor between them gets, which has resulted in their minds gradually overlapping over time."

"Hence the contract no longer recognizes Naruto's name since by its standards he is no longer recognized as just Naruto Uzumaki." Hiruzen finished with an understanding nod.

"Yep, so unless either him and Artemis fully remerge into one mind again or they somehow sever that connection for good, he'll never be able to use a summon contract." Jiraiya said with a defeated sigh. "Shame too, I was really looking forwards to teaching him just like his old man."

"You win some, you lose some Jiraiya, you'll just have to be happy with what you can teach him then."

-End Chapter-

AN: And there's the last filler chapter, next one will be the start of the Chunin Exams Arc. But how different will it be this time around now that Hiruzen has chased off Kabuto and knows that Sound is run by Orochimaru for sure? Who is Kabuto's new mole and what is his plan for Naruto? How long will Anko tease Naruto with her newly acquired blackmail? And what's in the mystery vial that Kabuto gave to Orochimaru? All these questions and more to be answered soon. Until then, thank you for reading and please review.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 17-

-Last Time-

 _"Mama Mav." Teisho said between bites, getting Anko's smirk to widen as she patted the Lamia's head._

 _"Yep, Mama very mad."_

…

 _"Yep, so unless either him and Artemis fully remerge into one mind again or they somehow sever that connection for good, he'll never be able to use a summon contract." Jiraiya said with a defeated sigh. "Shame too, I was really looking forwards to teaching him just like his old man."_

 _"You win some, you lose some Jiraiya, you'll just have to be happy with what you can teach him then."_

-And Now-

Standing outside the academy building, Naruto grinned while Ino and Choji stood on either side of him, the former a mix of excited and nervous while the latter was calmly munching on a bag of chips like he always was.

"You guys ready for this?" Naruto asked while glancing at his two teammates.

"As I'll ever be." Ino replied while Choji simply nodded his head.

"Alright, then what are we still standing out here for?" Naruto asked rhetorically as he rushed towards the building, with the other two soon following after him.

Too impatient to use the front door, Naruto leapt up the side of the building and wall-walked straight to an open window on the third floor. The moment he hopped inside though, the whiskered blonde suddenly found in front of a familiar bun-haired girl and her teammates as they walked up the staircase. "Oh hey Ten-chan, Bushy brows, Neji-Teme, you guys here for the Chunin Exams as well?"

"Yep, we've actually been preparing for it awhile now," Tenten stated, giggling a bit when she saw Neji's eye twitch in annoyance while Lee exclaimed something about the flames of youth. "And let me guess, the Hokage was so impressed by what happened in Kinoko that he let Team Ten join this time as well."

"I guess, Entotsu-Sensei didn't really say anything other than we were allowed to enter," Naruto said with a shrug, glancing behind himself briefly to see a humored Ino and still chill Choji clamber inside through the window as well. "He just told us what it was and said to show up today."

"And a heads-up on the fake out test I see." Tenten added with a faux dirty look, only to stop when she saw the honest confusion on Naruto's face.

"Uh, what fake-out test?" The whiskered blonde asked with a raised brow.

"You know, the one their doing on the second floor… where they try to trick you into thinking you're on the third floor… so you can't make it to the actual meeting area." The bun-haired girl described, only to be met with more confusion. "Isn't that why you came in through the window?"

"No, we just did that because someone seems to keep forgetting what a door is for." Ino said while playfully swatting the back of her fellow blonde's head.

"In my defense, it is faster than taking the stairs," Naruto said, even as he smiled sheepishly. "And it even helped us avoid a trap this time, even if unintentionally."

"…Touché."

"Should have figured it was something like that," Tenten muttered with a soft giggle before gesturing to her head. "So how's Artemis doing? She still up in your noggin somewhere?"

" _That I am Tenten, it is good to see you again."_ Artemis said through Naruto, making the bun-haired girl's smile widen a little.

"Same here, sorry I didn't visit like I said I would, you know how hectic the last week and half has been."

" _Of course, the circumstances weren't exactly favorable at the time."_ Artemis said with an understanding nod. " _Though it should be Teisho you apologize to, she has missed you quite a bit."_

"Hey guys, not to butt in or something, but I think we should get going. The first test is supposed to start in twenty minutes." Ino said while pointing to a clock that was hung on the wall.

"Right, we shouldn't miss this opportunity to show the world our flames of youth!" Lee cheered before rushing off ahead, leaving an exasperated Tenten and Neji to follow after him with Naruto and co. in tow.

Thankfully they didn't have to go very far though as the meeting room was just around the corner, indicated by the Chunin waiting by the door to take the admission forms they had. After quickly handing him the filled out paperwork and getting the stamp of approval, Naruto and Lee excitedly pushed through the double doors and the six of them found themselves standing within a large classroom.

They weren't the only ones there either as several dozen other teens could be seen meandering around with either bored, excited, or nervous expressions. Most of them were clumped together with others of their village, with the only exceptions being Konoha's and a few solo genin that were cautiously scouting out the competition.

Upon noticing team nine and team ten's entrance, more than a few of the gathered ninja immediately started to send the two newly arrived teams death glares and small flares of KI to intimidate them. This had almost no affect though as neither Naruto or Lee noticed the dark looks, Tenten, Ino, and Neji simply shrugged them off, and Choji just kept munching on his seemingly never-ending bags of chips.

' _Man, I didn't think this many people would be showing up, this is gonna be way more fun than I thought it would be._ ' Naruto thought with a grin, happy at the prospect of a decent challenge.

 _ **'Don't get too excited Naruto, you'll need to keep your guard up at all times from here on out.'**_ Artemis told him, making her host deflate slightly.

' _Way to be a buzzkill Arty-nee.'_ Naruto thought with a pout.

' _ **Someone has to be, otherwise you'd never be able to focus on what you needed to do.**_ ' Artemis said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

 __' _Hey I'm not that-' "_ Hey look, Hinata is here too." Naruto froze as Ino's sentence registered in his head, a blush cropping up on his face as he saw said Hyuga Heiress walking up to them shyly along with her teammates Kiba and Shino.

"Hey guys, I'm glad to s-see that you m-made it." Hinata said, only stuttering a little bit for once as a light blush spread across her cheeks.

"Yeah, we were starting to wonder if you guys would actually show up." Kiba said with a wide grin, Akamaru yipping in agreement from his spot in the feral boy's coat.

"Sorry about that, Naruto had to find a new babysitter for Teisho at the last minute because Sakura's surgery got bumped up to today." Ino said, getting Hinata to nod in understanding while Kiba tilted his head in confusion.

"Who is this Teisho you speak of?" Shino asked what the dog boy was wondering, his eyebrow raised in mild curiosity.

"Oh right, we never did introduce you guys to her, hang on I think I got a picture of her on me somewhere," Ino said before reaching into her kunai pouch and pulling out a small folded up picture that she looked over quickly with a smirk. "Yep, this is the one."

Holding it out for the pair to see, Kiba and Shino found themselves looking at a small photo of the little Lamia atop a smiling Naruto's head while the whiskered blonde himself was resting his chin atop an amused Artemis, all three of them at Ichiraku's with noodles hanging from their mouths. Meanwhile, Ino and Choji were seated in the background, the former holding up her hands behind Naruto and Artemis's heads doing a bunny ears gag while the latter was happily chowing on a large bowl of beef ramen.

"This is Teisho, Naruto's… recently adopted daughter." Ino said while pointing to the small snake girl, pausing a moment to think of the best way to describe the situation.

"…Okay, that was certainly the last thing I expected to see today." Kiba said with a flabbergasted expression as Ino put the photo back away.

"That was most unexpected indeed," Shino said with a small nod. "Though now I am curious about that other girl in the picture, I do not believe I have seen her within the village before."

"Oh, that's Naruto's sister, she's pretty reclusive so it's no real surprise if you haven't met her." Ino explained, already having a few excuses as to why no one had really seen Artemis before since she knew Naruto didn't like talking about his 'condition'.

"Wait, you have a sister?" Kiba asked Naruto with a surprised look, who nodded his head slowly while avoiding looking towards Hinata, who couldn't help but giggle at his bashfulness. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because you're a horndog that would have probably never stopped hitting on her if I did." Naruto stated bluntly, making Ino, Hinata, Tenten, and Choji laugh at the dog boy's busted face.

"He's got you there," Shino said before Kiba could say anything in his defense, making his teammate shoot a betrayed look at him. "Anyway, we also came over here to give you all a warning."

"A warning? What, are you guys seriously trying to scare us off too?" Ino asked incredulously.

"No, nothing like that, I just meant that you should be careful, particularly around those three." Shino said with a small shake of his head before pointing over to a corner where a trio of young woman wearing headbands with a flower symbol stood, each one carefully eyeing the occupants of the room. The ones to left and right were pretty similar in appearance, with short brown hair, narrow faces, and lightly tan skin, while the one in the middle and apparent leader of the group had black hair, green eyes, and wore a tannish-white cloak.

"That chick in the middle has been taking swings at people ever since they arrived." Kiba said with a frown, baring his teeth slightly when the cloaked girl looked in their direction.

"We believe she is testing the waters so to speak since she only strikes once or twice before withdrawing, though for some reason she has only instigated attacks with other Kunoichi." Shino explained further.

"She even attacked Hinata," Kiba growled, causing Naruto's gaze to snap towards the bluenette as the dog boy pointed to a long scratch in her jacket. "It was completely out of the blue, no reason or anything."

"Well don't worry, if she tries anything with us, she'll regret it." Tenten said confidently, twirling a kunai on her finger.

"Oh really, and is that an actual threat or just a hollow threat." An unknown female voice asked from behind the weapon user, making her freeze up in surprise for a split second before spinning around and swinging at the cloaked girl that was there. However, thanks to her brief hesitation, she was just a little bit to slow and the unknown girl landed a slash across the bun-haired girl's chest with a small ornamental dagger, leaving a shallow gash in her outfit identical to the one on Hinata's arm.

Then, faster than anyone else could react, the girl seemingly vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Ino with her dagger raised.

*Squelch*

…Or so she thought.

In contrast to her prior apathetic expression, the unknown girl showed visible shock and surprise on her face when a silver-eyed Naruto suddenly popped up between her and his teammate, stopping her blade mid-swing by allowing it to stab straight into his palm before socking her straight in the gut. Gasping as the wind was knocked out of her lungs, she was left defenseless to follow up punch to the jaw that sent her tumbling back across the room.

' _Thanks Arty-nee.'_ Naruto thought while pulling the knife out of his hand and throwing it away, his eyes fading back to blue as he did so. The goddess had sensed the girl's attack a split-second before it happened and reacted for Naruto since she knew he wouldn't be able to fast enough himself.

' _ **Don't mention it.'**_

Ignoring the glares he was getting from the girl's teammates as they helped her up, Naruto turned to Tenten with concern in his eyes. "You okay Ten-chan?"

"I'm fine, she only got my clothes," Tenten grumbled, adjusting the torn fabric so that she wouldn't be exposed anywhere too personal. "Besides, I should be asking you that, you're bleeding quite a bit there."

"Mah, it's just a small flesh wound." Naruto waved off her concern while wrapping the stab wound with some bandages he kept handy. If he'd been paying closer attention, he would have seen the intrigued expression on the cloaked girl's face as she reclaimed her dagger, wiping off the blood on the weapon with a small rag before tucking both away somewhere within her cloak.

Tenten opened her mouth to comment on how having a knife stabbed through your hand was most certainly not 'just a flesh wound' but was interrupted when an intimidating man with a bandana covering his head appeared in a puff of smoke along with two dozen chunin behind him.

"All of you shut up and pay attention," He said in a cold tone that could have frozen lava solid, immediately getting everyone's attention as he held a stack of cards with names and numbers on them. "I'll give it to you all short and simple. My name is Ibiki, proctor of the first exam, which means for the next two hours all your fates lie in my hands. Now get up here, take your card, and go to your assigned seat."

Despite speaking in a calm, and even somewhat relaxed tone, the mere presence the man exuded was enough to stop anyone from questioning his orders as they quickly went up and got the card with their name on it before moving to the seat that was labeled for them. Naturally, the assigned seats resulted in everyone being separated from their teammates, likely to make the actual test itself that much harder.

When it was all said and done however, Naruto found himself clenching his fists with a twitching eyebrow as a single thought ran through both his and Artemis heads. ' _Is_ **this** _some_ **kind** _of_ **divine** _joke?'_

The reason for this was because the whiskered blonde found himself seated right between Hinata and the cloaked girl, the latter of which was continually glancing at him from the corner of her eye. Looking around the room, he found Choji seated on a corner seat by a sandy blonde girl from Suna who had cautiously accepted a few chips he'd offered and Ino in a middle seat like himself with Kiba on one side and an extremely pissed looking redhead girl wearing an odd cap on the other.

"Now that you all are seated, we can start the first exam… a written test." Ibiki said while holding out a stack of papers, making Naruto slam his head against the desk with a groan.

' _Oh come ON! Seriously!?'_ He thought in disbelief, barely listening as Ibiki explained the rules while the Chunin passed out the test and took their own seats on either side of the room. Said rules included how everyone had to solve nine questions before getting a tenth one near the end of the two hours and if anyone was caught cheating five times they and their team would be booted. '… _Arty-nee, I need your help again.'_

 _ **'Don't worry, I'm right here, but you'll have to stay in control for now, to many eyes on us to risk syncing right now.'**_ Artemis stated, getting Naruto to mentally nod in understanding before flipping the test over and read the first question.

' _If you throw a shuriken at target X at a thirty-six-degree angle and approximately fifty feet per second with a ten mile per hour wind blowing towards your left, how far will the weapon fly off its original course of direction and what would you need to adjust to compensate this change to still hit target X.'_

 _ **'…This could be a bit more trouble than I thought.'**_

-One hour and Forty-five minutes later-

' _And… done,'_ Naruto thought as he wrote down the answer for the ninth question and flipped the sheet over before dropping his head on the table with a tired sigh. ' _Oh kami my head hurts.'_

' _ **Your head hurts? I was the one who had to do all the math.'**_ Artemis snapped grouchily as she rubbed her forehead. ' _ **Just be happy that I remembered those rants Athena would go into.'**_

Each question had been absolutely head-churning, involving complex equations and calculations that only those who were really intelligent would be able to solve without any issue. Halfway through the test, Artemis figured out that the point of the test was to cheat after discreetly observing the other genin through Naruto's eyes.

She didn't mention it to the blonde though, since neither of them had a viable way to do so without getting caught, which meant they were stuck doing the test the legitimate way. In that time nearly a third of the teams had been booted out do to being caught to many times, and a guy dressed in what looked like a cat onesie asked to go to the restroom.

The biggest downside in his opinion though was that the cloaked girl beside him, Shizuka according to the name on her test, not only managed to quickly finish the test, but the moment she did immediately went back to staring at him.

' _Yeah, yeah, whatever you say nee-chan.'_ Naruto thought, before groaning as Ibiki clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, it's time for the tenth question. However, before I tell you what it is, you all must decide whether you're willing to take it or if you want to give up now." The man said, getting a chorus of confused mumbling in response.

"What kind of bull is this? Of course we're gonna take it!" A random genin in the back exclaimed, with several others voicing their agreement. Naruto would have been one of them but was cut off by Artemis.

' _ **Hold up Naruto, I've seen this sort of situation before, he's most likely going to reveal a catch.'**_

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you, I haven't gotten to the good part yet," Ibiki stated calmly as the classroom fell silent once more. " If you quit now, you and the rest of your team will forfeit from the Chunin Exams. However, for all of you who decide to take the ten question and fail to answer it correctly, you will not only be dropped out but you will forever be a genin for the rest of your ninja career."

' _ **Yep, there it is.**_ ' Artemis said as the entire room erupted into chaos, with almost every single genin crying out in outrage at the man's words.

Standing there calmly for a minute and letting the complaints wash over them, Ibiki eventually raised up a single hand up in a 'silence' motion as he released a strong blast of KI that made everyone fall silent once more. "Those are the rules and no amount of bitching is going to change that. With that said, this is the moment of truth, do or die, raise your hand if you wish to quit, you have five minutes to decide."

With his piece said, Ibiki sat back down in his seat and watched them all consider what he had told them.

' _ **So we still going through with this?'**_ Artemis asked Naruto as he stared down at his test sheet intensely. ' _ **That would be a pretty big setback towards your goal of becoming Hokage if you're stuck as a genin forever.'**_

 _'But if I don't try then I'll still be a genin anyway,'_ Naruto thought with a small shrug. ' _Besides, you would kick my ass six ways to Sunday if I gave up now since that would mean you just did all that math for nothing.'_

 _ **'…You aren't wrong.'**_

With his mind made up, Naruto sat there quietly, watching as the tension in the room gradually built up until some of the genin finally snapped and called it quits. It wasn't many, just six teams out of the thirty or so that were left, but it still was enough to lay the pressure down on the remainder extra hard as Ibiki stood back up.

"Last chance, any more quitters?" He asked while sweeping his gaze across the room. Upon not getting any response what-so-ever, the man nodded his head approvingly. "Alright, then it is time… to congratulate you all on passing the first exam."

…

…

"…HUH!?" Almost the entire room exclaimed in shock and confusion, making Ibiki chuckle softly at their surprise.

"But what about the tenth question!?" Naruto couldn't help but yell out.

"You just answered it," The intimidating man said while taking off the bandana he was wearing, revealing the numerous scars and burns covering his bald head. "As a ninja, you will find yourself in numerous missions that require you to undertake substantial risk in order to succeed. The meaning of this test was to determine if you would be able to handle the pressure of such a situation and since you all are still here then that means you pass."

' _ **A secret test hidden underneath two false tests, clever,**_ ' Artemis said with an approving nod, before frowning as a realization hit her. Since the first and second tests were fake, that meant the written test itself was completely pointless, which also meant that she just gave herself a huge headache for no reason. ' _ **Oh son of a-'**_ *Crash*

The goddess was cut off from her swearing tangent before it could begin when a black mass suddenly smashed through the window and unfurled, revealing itself to be a large banner that tacked itself in place directly in front of Ibiki with kunai. Said banner had 'Introducing the sexy and amazing second exam proctor and her adorable assistant' in bold white Kanji.

And standing in front of the newly placed banner was none other than Anko with Teisho seated on her shoulder, the little lamia wearing a miniature version of the purplette's outfit. "Hello gakis! Are all of you ready for the second part of the-Oof!"

Almost the epicness Anko had going for her was completely ruined when Naruto pounced on her angrily.

"ANKO! What the hell is Teisho-chan wearing!?"

-End Chapter-

AN: Before anyone says anything, I couldn't find an actual age for Shizuka so I'm just assuming she's around the same as Naruto. As for why she's in Konoha right now, that will be revealed later on. Now, before I end this chapter, many of you have pointed out that Naruto hasn't really gotten any cool benefits from having Artemis sealed in him, and to be honest the reason for that is I have so many ideas for what he can have yet I can't decide which ones to give him. So once again I turn to you guys for help, feel free to suggest any skills or powers you think he should get and I'll pick out the most popular ones. Thank you for reading and please review.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 18-

-Last Time-

 _And standing in front of the newly placed banner was none other than Anko with Teisho seated on her shoulder, the little lamia wearing a miniature version of the purplette's outfit. "Hello gakis! Are all of you ready for the second part of the-Oof!"_

 _Almost all the epicness Anko had going for her was completely ruined when Naruto pounced on her angrily._

 _"ANKO! What the hell is Teisho-chan wearing!?"_

-And Now-

"Ah, well that was fun," Anko said with a giggle as she held a tied up and gagged Naruto over her shoulders while everyone else in the class stared at her with sweatdrops running down their heads. It had taken her all of three seconds to catch, restrain, and detain Naruto after his attempted assault, with most of the class barely even able to keep up with the flurry of movements that preceded.

Where she even got the rope to do so was a mystery everyone was wondering since she seemed to just pull it out of thin air. "Anyway, back to business, for those of you who can't read I am your second exam proctor. As for what that exam is, meet me at training ground 44 in twenty minutes to find out. My assistant here will show you the directions now."

As she was speaking, Teisho slithered up to the top of Anko's head and unfurled a small scroll which contained a map of Konoha… or at least that was what it was supposed to be. A good majority of it had been doodled over with crayon, thus obscuring the aforementioned map and directions pretty badly.

"Just so you know, if you're even a second late then you're disqualified," Of course Anko either didn't know or didn't care, likely the latter, as she took the mess up map and tucked it away between her breasts while walking back towards the window she came in from. "Now if you all don't mind I have places to be, dango to eat, and coffins to pick-up. Ciao!"

And just like that she was gone, her laughter echoing through the room as most of the genin scrambled to meet up with their teammates and rush for the door. The only exceptions to this were the angry redhead's team who simply marched out the door with a flurry of curses, the suna team who walked out calmly with a redhead boy carrying a massive sand gourd in the lead, the mystery girl who poofed out of sight with a shunshin along with her teammates, and the remainder of team 10 who stared out the window that Anko left.

"Did she forget that she still has Naruto with her?" Ino asked dully, making Choji shrug as he munched on some chips.

"Probably."

"…Are we ever going to meet somebody normal?"

"Probably not."

Sighing in defeat, Ino slumped over a bit as she and Choji shuffled out of the room. ' _It's days like this I really regret becoming a ninja. Would being a florist have been all that bad?'_

-Fifteen Minutes Later-

Naruto's eyebrow twitched rapidly in annoyance as he lay face first on the ground just outside a fenced off forest, still firmly tied up from head to toe and gagged while Anko sat on his back with a teasing grin as she and Teisho snacked on some dango.

On the plus side though, not only was the ground soft and grassy but his little Lamia was out of the Mini Anko outfit and now wearing an adorable purple dress with blue trim and even had her crown atop her head, giving her the appearance of a princess.

Finishing the last few bites of her snack just as the first few genin started showing up, which just so happened to be that cloaked girl's team, Anko stood up with a satisfied sigh and stretched her arms before casually pulling Naruto to his feet and cutting him free of his bindings. "Thanks for being my seat gaki, your back is surprisingly comfortable."

"Not like you gave me much of a choice," Naruto said with a glare after pulling the ball of cloth out of his mouth. "I'll get you back for that-Ttebayo."

"Ah don't be so fussy gaki, it wasn't that bad," Anko said while patting the whiskered blonde on the back. "Besides, if it makes you feel better you can keep the panties."

…

"…What?" Naruto asked after a brief pause.

"You heard me, I said you. Can keep. The panties." Anko stated pointedly with a mischievous smirk while gesturing to the wadded-up cloth in Naruto's hand just as it unbundled to reveal a pair of light purple women's underwear covered in his saliva.

" _ **Damn, this woman is almost as good as Aphrodite at teasing people."**_ Artemis said with begrudging respect as Naruto's face practically melted from how red it became.

"Bwahahahaha! Oh man gaki, your face is priceless!" Anko howled in laughter, doubling over as she held her shaking sides, not even caring when Naruto threw the spit-soaked undergarments in her face and stomped off to meet up with his teammates.

Once she managed to regain her composure, the woman pulled the underwear off and tossed them into a nearby trashcan along with their packaging, revealing that they were in fact not her actual underwear. As for why she just happened to have a set of brand new panties on hand, we will never know.

Wiping off the rest of the spit off her face with one last chuckle, Anko's grin suddenly took on a more sadistic edge as she turned her attention towards the crowd of gathered genin now standing before her. "Hello gaki's and welcome to my personal playground, training ground 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death."

Her grin widening at the nervous expressions that popped up on almost everyone's faces, the purplette reached into her trench coat and pulled out a pair of scrolls, one with the kanji for 'Earth' and the other 'Heaven'.

"Your second exam is simply, well in concept at least. Each of you will go into there with either an Earth scroll or a Heaven scroll. Your task is to retrieve the opposing scroll by any means necessary and head towards the tower in the exact middle of the forest with both in your possession and as a full team. You have exactly five days to do this, and if you are even a second later then you best not let the door hit your ass or your corpse on the way out." She explained with a dark chuckle that made several teams even more nervous.

" _ **Apollo's children would kill to have her as a villain actress."**_ Artemis said with an approving nod. To be able to switch from her natural playful and teasing personality with a faux sadistic personality so flawlessly was an impressive feat. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact she and Naruto already knew the woman, she'd probably been convinced by the act as well.

"Before you are given your scroll though, I need each one of you to sign of these little waivers," Anko continued while Teisho held up one of the papers for everyone to see. "That way, when the weaklings amongst you die in there, Konoha can be in no way held accountable for your untimely yet inevitable demise. Now get your asses moving before I punt you into that forest myself."

With her piece said, the scantily dressed woman walked off with another bought of dark laughter while the teams lined up at a series of curtained booths to get their scrolls.

"By Kami… that woman is terrifying." Ino said with a shiver as she, Naruto, and Choji walked out of one of the booths and headed for one of the multiple gates leading into the Forest of Death, the mind-walker carefully hiding a tiny storage scroll in her shirt which held their heaven scroll.

"Yeah, she can really scare ya when she tries, but Anko-chan is actually pretty fun to hang out with… most of the time." Naruto said with a shrug before frowning heavily. ' _Now how am I gonna get her back for that panty prank?'_

 _"_ _ **Perhaps you could make her eat a pair of you boxers.**_ " Artemis suggested jokingly, making Naruto scoff with a good-natured roll of his eyes.

' _How about an idea that doesn't end with me going to the hospital so TsuBaa-chan can reattach all my fingers?'_

" _Hello? Hello? Testing, one two, testing. Is this thing on?"_ Anko's voice called out over a speaker system before Artemis could come up with a witty comeback. " _Well, if all you lovely gakis can here me, then let me just say… THREETWOONEGO!"_

 __Startled by the sudden screaming along with the gates flinging open at the same time, team Ten instinctually darted into the forest at top speed, quickly crossing over several hundred yards of terrain in just a minute via tree hopping before slowing down to catch their breath.

"Fun to hang out with huh?" Ino asked sarcastically as she panted for air, sending an annoyed glare at Naruto's back.

"I said most of the time," Naruto shot back with a sigh before taking in their surroundings, not even winded from the sudden sprint. "We need to keep moving, we have maybe three hours until it starts getting dark."

"Okay, then that's how long we have to try and find a team with an Earth scroll." Choji said as he and Ino got ready to get going again. However, the instant both of them tried to jump off and start tree hopping once more, Naruto stopped them cold grabbing them by their shirt collars.

"Nope, bad idea." The whiskered blonde said, getting a pair of confused looks in response.

"How is doing what we're supposed to do a bad idea?" Ino demanded with an incredulous look.

"Because we are in unknown territory filled with things that probably want to kill us along with over two dozen different teams looking to steal our scroll… and probably kill us as well." Naruto said, adding the last bit as an afterthought.

"Well that's…" Ino started to say angrily, only to trail off once her brain registered what Naruto said. "Actually a pretty good point."

"Our best bet right now would be to find a relatively safe place to hunker down for tonight. Then I can have my clones scout out the area so we can get a grasp of our surroundings, see what we're dealing with, and possible start setting some traps." Naruto said as he kept looking around.

…

"Guys?" Naruto asked as he turned back to his team after several moments of silence, only to be meant with blank stares of disbelief. "…What?"

"That was so Artemis's plan wasn't it?" Ino asked with a raised brow.

"Hey! I would never steal one of Arty-nee's ideas like that!" Naruto exclaimed, insulted that Ino would even think he'd do something like that. "For your information, me and her go out on hunting trips all the time and she taught me a lot about-"

Naruto suddenly stopped midsentence as a chill ran up his spine and his hair started to stand up on end while his danger senses started screaming at him to leave.

' _What… what is this feeling? What's going on?'_ Naruto thought as he staggered slightly. ' _Arty-nee?'_

" _ **I don't know either Naruto, but I'd suggest we heed that feeling and get out of here."**_ The moon goddess said with a frown, knowing from experience that it was never wise to ignore one's instincts.

"We need to go." Naruto said curtly as he started fast walking, making Ino and Choji blink in surprise at his sudden attitude change before quickly following after him.

"Whoa! Chill out Naruto. What's wrong?" The big boned member of team Ten asked, seeing the worry written all over the whiskered blonde's face as his eyes darted all over the place looking for something.

"Yeah, what the heck? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Ino said, admittedly feeling more than a little annoyed yet nervous since she'd never seen Naruto look so spooked.

"I don't know why but something about this place feels wrong, like we shouldn't be here." Naruto said seriously while fiddling with his holsters, ready to summon the Lunar Blades at a second's notice.

"What!?" Ino yelled incredulously as she grabbed the scruff of Naruto's jacket and pulled him right up to her face. "That's it!? You have a feeling?! Stop trying to show off you idiot and-"

"Ino, stop talking." Naruto cut in, his eyes going wide as he stared _behind_ her along with Choji, the latter of which looked ready to crap himself.

"What did you just-MMMPH!" Ino started to yell more, only for Naruto to clap a hand over her mouth and pull her close.

" _Ino, shut the fuck up right now or we are all going to die."_ Naruto whispered in her ear in a dead serious tone that Ino ignored at first…

 _"Grrrrrrr,"_

…Until she heard the deep growling behind her.

Slowly turning around in her fellow blonde's grasp, the mind-walker froze in fear as she saw the source of the noise.

Wolves. At least a dozen wolves, each one easily bigger than a full grown bear, slowly stalking towards them with their large and very sharp looking teeth bared. And judging by the scars covering their bodies that were clearly caused by either kunai or jutsu, definitely not friendly towards humans.

" _Ino, get behind me, slowly. Do not try to run away or they will attack."_ Naruto whispered, getting a small whimper in response from the girl before she slunk out of his loosened arms and doing as he said, her eyes never breaking from the approaching canines. ' _Kuso, we must've walked right into these guy's territory.'_

 _ **"No, if that was the case they would've just killed you or driven you off by now. And their not hunting otherwise they would have surrounded you first before revealing themselves."**_ Artemis stated with a frown as she watched the wolves through Naruto's eyes.

' _Are you sure, because it looks like their fixing that up right now Arty-nee.'_ Naruto said as the massive canines started to encircle the trio. _'Okay, fighting these guys will just tire us out, so maybe we can escape by tree- *_ Thump* _…or not'_

Naruto couldn't help but stare in disbelief as a wolf that was slightly larger then the rest suddenly dropped out of the canopy right in front of him, whilst also noticing the several other shadows amongst the leaves that growled softly. It was at least eight feet long and four feet tall with yellowish brown fur and a dull grey underbelly and vibrant green eyes that shined with intelligence as it stared straight into his.

" _ **Shit, so that's what's going on.**_ " Artemis said with a groan.

' _Arty-nee, explanation please?'_ Naruto asked, sweating heavily as the wolf got right in his face and sniffed.

" _ **To put simply, these guys most likely started tracking us the instant we entered the forest because my presence is making you a default pack leader due to wolves being my sacred animal. That's why you felt so nervous, your instincts were warning you of another top dog coming near,"**_ Artemis said just as the wolf growled softly at him while her companions settled int a wide ring around them. " _ **This is a challenge, she's the leader of this pack and wants to fight you to reassure her pack of her authority."**_

 _ **'**_ _So what? Me just being here is pissing… her off?'_

" _ **Pretty much, as long as you are in her domain, you are a threat to her leadership."**_

' _Okay, then should I act submissive? Show her that I don't mean any harm or something?'_ Naruto asked as the now identified pack leader padded a few feet back and sat down with an expectant look. Sure, he was pretty sure that if they went all out he and his team could get out of this mess, but it would not be unscathed and there were just too many unknowns in this forest to risk injuring themselves like that.

" _ **Wouldn't work, you're too big a player now. The only way we get out of this alive is if you take her down by yourself. No jutsu, no weapons, no assists."**_

"Wonderful," Naruto grumbled aloud before unclipping his dagger sheaths and letting them fall to the ground. "Ino, Choji, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but whatever you do, do not help me."

"What are you talking about Naruto?" Choji asked, having recovered from his shock somewhat and been just about to start the hand signs for his human boulder technique when Naruto spoke.

" _Yeah, are you nuts?! You want to take them all by yourself?!"_ Ino whisper-screamed even as she continued to use her fellow blonde as a meat shield.

"Just trust me okay, me and Arty-nee know what we're doing," Naruto said while taking off his jacket, revealing the plain white shirt he wore underneath. Stretching his arms a bit, he stared straight into the pack leader's eyes and did his best imitation of a growl. It seemed to do the job though as she immediately stood up and the duo began circling each-other.

"Besides, I'm not taking them all on. This is just between the two of us, isn't that right Okami(Wolf)-chan?" Naruto asked rhetorically, unable to help the excited grin that cropped up on his face as he and the wolf got closer and closer with each circle.

To his surprise though, Okami-chan actually grinned back at him, which was actually quite scary looking given she was a wolf, before giving a soft excited sounding yip.

" _ **Ah, such a smart girl, Athena was so bitter when I got wolves instead of her."**_ Artemis said with a chuckle, remembering how upset the wisdom goddess had been when she only got one of the two sacred animals she wanted.

"So you can understand me, good. Then how about we stop dancing around and get this fight started!" Naruto yelled before he and the wolf charged each-other.

"GRRRAH!" Okami-chan snarled as she tried to snap her jaws around Naruto's throat, only for the boy to twist out of the way at the last second and counter with a punch to the side of her head.

However, despite putting as much force as he could into the blow in hopes for a quick victory, the whiskered blonde was shocked when his fist barely even made the canine flinch before spinning around and smacking him across the area with a swing of her tail.

"By Kami… what is that wolf made of?" Naruto groaned as he got up, shaking his aching hand with a mild grimace.

" _ **Don't forget, this place is meant to be a challenge for trained fighters. It would only make sense that the creatures here are much more durable then your run-of-the-mill forest critters."**_ Artemis stated dully. " _ **Now stop doddling and get back in there."**_

"Yeah, yeah, I'm-KUSO!" Naruto yelped as he narrowly jumped out of the way of the claws that attempted to shred his face apart. Okami-chan didn't let up one bit, moving at startling speeds as she continued to claw, slash, and bite at him.

' _Okay, I am much less confident in my fight them all to escape plan.'_ Naruto thought as he struggled to keep ahead of the onslaught, wincing as the wolf's claws grazed his arms. Unlike with Bowser, Okami-chan had the brains to back up her brawn and was making sure to keep him solely on the defensive, leaving little to no openings to counter again.

" _ **Naruto, you need to act soon, otherwise she's just gonna whittle you down until you're too hurt to move."**_

' _Well do you got any ideas? Cause I'm drawing a big flat nothing here.'_ Naruto retorted, hopping back to try and gain some distance to no avail as the pack leader easily kept up with him.

" _ **Aim for her legs and tail, she relies on balance and maneuverability, disrupt that somehow somehow and she'll be left vulnerable."**_

' _Okay, thanks Nee-chan.'_ Naruto thought before suddenly stopping out of the blue and flopping onto his back. Not expecting such a move, Okami-chan was unable to stop her charge, allowing Naruto to slip right under as she passed.

This in turn left her completely helpless when Naruto popped his chakra reinforced arms out and swept her rear legs out from under her, sending her tumbling several feet across the ground. Not wanting to give her any time to recover, Naruto quickly got back up and pounced on the downed wolf and wrapped his arm around her neck in a choke hold.

 __" _ **Naruto, what are you doing? You should've kept going for the legs! This is not a good idea!"**_ Artemis said as Okami-chan scrambled back to her feet and started bucking around wildly while smashing herself and Naruto into several trees to try and knock him off.

"Gah! Yeah definitely- Ow! Not a good idea! Agh!" Naruto yelled, grunting in pain from the repeated collisions as he struggled to keep his hold. Deciding to do more then just flail on her back helplessly though, Naruto channeled chakra into his fist and punched Okami-chan in the side of the neck, causing her to stumble with an audible gagging sound.

Smirking at this, Naruto repeated the action over and over, raining down punches all around the wolf's neck as she continued to try and knock him loose. However, the boy stopped a few seconds later when his unwilling steed sudden stopped moving all together. ' _Uh, did I win?'_

 _ **"Nope, but I'm pretty sure you're about to learn what being a pancake feels like."**_ Artemis said, making Naruto's eyes widen.

"Oh sh-MMPH!" Unable to respond in time, Naruto found himself squished under several hundred pounds of wolf muscle as Okami-chan flopped over and rolled onto her back. Then to make matters worse, she rolled side to side, grinding him into the ground with more than a few sickening crunches before getting back up, leaving him embedded in the ground.

Groaning in pain, Naruto ever so slowly pulled himself up once again, only this time hugging his chest with one hand. "Ooooooow… that hurt… that hurt a lot."

" _ **Be thankful that that only fractured a few of your ribs, if that had been anyone else they'd be nothing but paste right now."**_

Meanwhile, on the side lines, Choji and Ino watched as their teammate struggled to stay standing as he pulled himself out of the ground, the pack leader circling around him once more.

"Why are we just standing here? We should be helping him." Ino said, lifting her hands to do one of her family's jutsu, only for Choji to stop her.

"I don't think we can Ino, not unless you think you can take on all of them as well." The big boned boy said while gesturing to the numerous wolves that were either watching both them and the fight from either the ground or in the trees.

"Grrr… dammit." The blonde girl grunted as she let her hands drop, unable to refute his point.

Back to the fight, Naruto was breathing slightly heavily as he watched Okami-chan circle him cautiously. "So, looks like we're about even still huh?" He asked, seeing the wolf limping slightly whenever she put weight on her rear legs and the awkwardness she moved her head do no doubt to bruising around her neck.

Growling softly at him, Okami-chan snapped her jaw a few times as she stopped right in front of him and crouched, her muscles tensing up.

"One last go," Naruto said with a feral grin as he stretched his arms out and braced himself as best he could. "Come on then, bring it!"

Needing no other prompting, the large wolf charged, barreling towards him at top speed, crossing the distance between them in just a few seconds, her teeth prepped and ready to sink into his flesh.

*Squelch*

…Just not the flesh she intended.

At the last possible second, Naruto's hands shot out and caught her jaws, his feet digging a shallow trench into the ground as he skid back several feet before managing to stop. Sweat ran down the whiskered blonde's brow as he arms shook from the force of holding the massive wolf back, only made worse by the blood and slobber dripping down from his palms.

Knowing he'd only be able to keep this up for a few more seconds, Naruto quickly did the only thing he could think of that could save him right now.

*Chomp* "YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!"

He bit back.

Clenching his jaw as hard as he could, Naruto's teeth sank right into the sensitive tissue of Okami-chan's nose, making the wolf yelp in pain form the sudden jolt of pain. Squirming back out of his grasp, the pack leader shook her head wildly as her eyes teared up, leaving her completely blind to the powerful uppercut that snapped her jaw shut and made her bite her own tongue.

Then, before she even knew what happened, Naruto grabbed her around the neck once more, and in a surprising feat of strength, hefted her entire body into the air before roughly slamming her back into the ground back first.

Completely dazed from both the impact and pain running through her body, the pack leader could do nothing as Naruto sat down on her neck, using his weight to keep her head from moving, and roughly grabbed her ears. "I won this fight Okami-chan, now be a good girl and heel."

Growling in response, the wolf tried to bite him, but immediately stopped with a whimper when he pulled on one ear and twisted the other.

"Oh no you don't. I. said. HEEL." Naruto growled out as he got right in her face with a glare to which Okami-chan glared back defiantly and tried to resist again, only to be met with similar results. This kept going for several minutes, with the downed wolf trying to keep fighting, to throw Naruto off and kill him, only for the whiskered blonde to keep her subdued by his weight pressing against her throat and a firm pull of her ears.

Eventually though, her struggling died down as she panted weakly in exhaustion from a combination of her injuries and restricted oxygen supply. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the last vestiges of resistance died out in her eyes as she lowered her head with a defeated whine.

" _ **Congratulations Naruto, you won,"**_ Artemis said with just a hint of pride in her voice while the surrounding wolves howled in sync. " _ **You are now the pack leader."**_

' _Yaaaaaay,'_ Naruto thought as he slid off Okami-chan and flopped onto the ground with a tired grunt before turning to the wolf with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about biting your nose and pulling your ears like that Okami-chan, I hope I didn't hurt you to badly."

Huffing in response, the ex-pack leader rolled her eyes and licked his face, making Naruto chuckle briefly before clutching his side in pain.

Both Ino and Choji watched this all happen with wide eyes filled to the brim in disbelief.

"Choji."

"Yeah?"

"Did Naruto just beat the kuso out of a giant wolf then make friends with it and its buddies?"

"…Yeah."

Snapping out of her stupor, Ino sighed in exasperation while rubbing her temple, her prior worry all but non-existent as the once aggressive canines surrounding them calmed down, with a few of the smallish ones actually walking up and sniffing them before backing off. "Typical, that boy can't go five minutes without doing something completely insane and impossible, can he?"

"Nope." Choji said while snacking on some chips he got from… somewhere, sharing a few with an older looking wolf when it prodded the bag curiously.

As this was all going on though, none of the gathered group noticed as a pair of brown eyes watched this all happen from the shadows with a sinister gleam. ' _Perfect, the fucker went and tired himself out already. Now I just have to wait for the perfect moment and I'll be done with this shitty mission and out of this stupid fucking exam before the sun fully sets.'_

-End Chapter-

AN: For those of you who didn't get what just happened with the wolves, here's the full explanation. Since one of Artemis's sacred animals are wolves, at least according to some versions of Greek mythology (There are so many that it is really tricky to deduce the original from the remakes), that would normally mean she could command them with ease.

However, since she is out of the Olympian domain that effect is lessened, not enough to really effect her control to badly but enough that say another deity with a similar attribute could override her control. That influence was further diluted by her being sealed inside Naruto, so instead of having a natural command for the canines, Naruto came off as a threat to the current pack leader's authority the instant he entered her domain (aka The Forest of Death).

Just to clarify though, Okami-chan is NOT Naruto's wolf companion decided on by the vote but said companion will appear soon. Thank you for reading and please review.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

-Chapter 19-

-Last Time-

 _Snapping out of her stupor, Ino sighed in exasperation while rubbing her temple, her prior worry all but non-existent as the once aggressive canines surrounding them calmed down, with a few of the smallish ones actually walking up and sniffing them before backing off. "Typical, that boy can't go five minutes without doing something completely insane and impossible, can he?"_

 _"Nope." Choji said while snacking on some chips he got from… somewhere, sharing a few with an older looking wolf when it prodded the bag curiously._

 _As this was all going on though, none of the gathered group noticed as a pair of brown eyes watched this all happen from the shadows with a sinister gleam. '_ Perfect, the fucker went and tired himself out already. Now I just have to wait for the perfect moment and I'll be done with this shitty mission and out of this stupid fucking exam before the sun fully sets _.'_

-And Now-

"Zzzzzzz…"

"That is so not fair."

Inside a moderate sized cavern made by the roots of a massive tree Team 10 were laid out, with Choji and Artemis by a small fire working on cooking up some birds the latter had caught and Ino sitting by the disguised entrance looking out for any trouble, while sending occasional envious glances towards Naruto.

Said whiskered blonde was in the far corner of the cavern with Okami-chan, the former sound asleep up inside a camo designed sleeping bag while snuggled up against the latter's belly and his head resting in the crook of her neck.

Peaking an eye open upon hearing Ino mutter under her breath, Okami-chan snorted softly getting the girl's attention before letting her tongue fall out of her mouth for a few moments.

…

"Did you… did you just stick your tongue out at me?" Ino asked with a flabbergasted expression, before frowning when the wolf made a weird coughing bark that sounded suspiciously like laughter. "Oh yeah, keep it up you furball and it doesn't matter how helpful you've been, I'll turn you into a nice fur coat."

Okami-chan had been the one to lead them to this cavern shortly after her and Naruto's little duel so they'd have a safe place to rest and recover for the night whilst the rest of the wolves headed out to resume whatever they'd been doing before. Based on the scratch marks, pawprints, shed fur, and a few bone fragments here and there, the group figured that this was either the pack's old den when it was smaller or a sanctuary they'd set up in case of injury or exhaustion.

Naruto and Okami-chan ended up really getting along during that time, with the latter constantly doting on the former. At the same time though, the large wolf had been passively antagonistic towards Ino and Choji the entire time, more towards the former then the latter.

"Relax Ino, don't take her taunting too personally Ino, she's just gloating about being more useful to her new leader then you are." Artemis said casually as she carefully turned the pheasants so they would cook evenly.

"Ugh, well why don't you tell that mangy canine that I don't care about that." Ino said, prompting Okami-chan to whine softly.

"She can understand you just fine and doesn't believe you." Artemis said with a roll of her eyes… before chuckling when the wolf barked twice.

"What's so funny?" Ino asked with narrowed eyes. Out of all the time she'd known the moon goddess, very few things were able to get her to laugh so it was only natural that she was a bit suspicious.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Artemis said with a dismissive wave of her hand, yet never losing the small smirk on her lips. ' _If that girl knew what that wolf just said she would flip out worse then Athena did when Hermes put all those prank boobytraps inside her personal library.'_

Continuing to stare at her suspiciously, Ino was broken from her thoughts when the foliage covering the door rustled. Immediately on guard, the blonde held a kunai up poised to strike, only to calm down a few seconds later when a greenish brown wolf poked its head in and yipped a few times towards Okami-chan, who howled softly in response.

"Another team passed through the wolf's territory about half an hour ago. They left a bit of a mess and mildly injured one of the more careless pups but otherwise left without causing too much trouble." Artemis translated automatically for Choji and Ino since this happened every hour or so, usually by this same wolf that Ino nicknamed Chui (Note, Memo).

"Well that's good to hear, thanks for the update fella," Choji said with a smile, petting the newly arrived wolf on the head and offering him one of the yet to be cooked birds which he happily accepted, before the big-boned boy turned towards a certain goddess with a pondering gaze. "Hey Artemis, out of curiosity, why can you understand what the wolves are saying but Naruto can't?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too," Ino said, grinning slightly when Chui padded back over to her and settled down with its head on her lap. "I mean, you two are technically the same person so shouldn't you both have the same abilities?"

' _Oh Tartarus dammit, should have figured that would come up sooner or later.'_ Artemis thought, facepalming internally while the only external sign at her discomfort was a slight twitch of her eyebrow. She and Naruto had never bothered to even try explaining her quote 'imaginary history' unquote since they didn't really see any point as neither Choji or Ino would believe it.

And knowing just how irritatingly persistent Ino could be, the goddess knew that simply ignoring the question now would simply result in unending annoyance late. So, with a roll of her eyes, the goddess used the only believable response that would hopefully sate the two's, mainly Ino's, curiosity.

"If you must know, when I was… born… within Naruto's mind, it was under rather unique circumstances," Artemis started, pausing briefly to taste test one of the pheasants before passing it to Ino. "Shizune or Tsunade could explain this better, but the gist of it is that when our two minds started to split I ended up taking a portion of Naruto's chakra with me that mixed with ambient chakra resulting in my own unique abilities."

"Okay… but that still doesn't explain-" Ino started to stay, only to be cut off by a warning glare from Artemis that made her sweat nervously. "Carry on."

After staring at her firmly for an extra minute just in case, Artemis cleared her throat before continuing to speak. "To put bluntly, because my chakra was no longer the same as Naruto's yet still mixing with his, it was causing a disbalance that severely interfered with his ability to function. I'm sure you know both can figure out what I'm talking about."

"…Naruto's fainting spells." Choji said with wide eyes as it clicked in his head, Ino doing the same a few seconds later.

"Exactly," Artemis said with a nod, before pulling at the chain sticking at the back of her neck. "Which is why I have this. It's part of a seal that keeps all but a trickle of my influence separate from Naruto so he can adjust to it at a more tolerable pace. Thus, I can do a multitude of things he can't, for the time being at least."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense, I guess," Ino said with a frown as she resisted the urge to rub her suddenly aching forehead, making a mental note to speak with one or both of the women Artemis mentioned later. "So Naruto will be able to speak wolf one day?"

"Eventually, among other things." Artemis said with a nod.

…

"…Why does he keep getting all the good stuff?" The blonde asked with a pout as she idly ate the fried bird in her grasp. Seriously, an adorable miniature lamia daughter, infatuation of a princess, given a real gold crown, got a pack of wolves at his command, and soon cool animal speaking powers, how was that fair?

Artemis opened her mouth to respond with a sarcastic yet witty remark but was cut off before she could even start when the soft sound of a flute playing reached her ears.

"Hey, where's that… nice music… coming… froooo…" Choji asked, alert at first but suddenly became drowsy as the music before passing out altogether.

"Kuso… it's a gen… genjutsu…" Ino muttered, barely fighting off the urge to sleep long enough to raise her hands in a tiger sign and release a small pulse of chakra. "Kai!"

"Oh great, it would seem someone has found us." Artemis said as she and the wolves got up, all three of them mostly unaffected by the sleep-inducing lullaby, not that it mattered as it stopped a few moments later.

"Huh? What's going on?" Naruto asked groggily, jogged awake by the sudden loss of his incredibly comfortable 'pillow', before blinking as a different tune started to play. "And why do I hear-"

*CRASH*

Naruto was cut off mid question by a huge muscular fist with a bone like spike bandaged to the forearm that smashed through the entrance of the cavern, knocking Ino and Chui to the side and burying them under rubble while grabbing the whiskered blonde and Okami-chan.

"Gah! Bad touch! Bad touch!" Naruto yelled out as he wriggled around the giant hand's grasp, stabbing at every inch of it he could with the Lunar Blades while Okami-chan sunk her teeth and claws into the fingers. Unfortunately, it would seem that whatever this arm belonged to had an incredible pain tolerance, or simply didn't feel pain at all, as it didn't even flinch while pulling the pair out of the cave.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *BOOM*

Thankfully for them though, before the limb could drag them all the way outside, a trio of arrows embedded into the elbow and exploded, completely severing it at the joint.

"Phew, that was a close one. Thanks Arty-nee." Naruto said, sending Artemis a grateful smile while he pulled himself out from the now dead hand's grasp.

"Don't mention it, now catch." The goddess said while tossing the bow she was wielding to the blonde. It was a sleek bow with light brown limbs that had small vine engravings on the sides, a darker handle with similar carvings only with silver inlay and an orange swirl in the middle. This was a gift from Tenten, who made it for him personally after they got home as a replacement for Daiippo.

Dispelling his daggers and catching the weapon along with the quiver that followed a second later, Naruto quickly drew an explosive arrow and notched it just as another hand grabbed the roots at the entrance. With a loud crunch, the new hand ripped the top of the cavern off to reveal a trio of giants with sewn shut mouths, purple rope bows around their waists, and bandaged eyes standing before the group.

The middle one was pale skinned with one arm missing and the other having an even larger bone spike taped to it, the one on the left had now arms and was entirely covered in bandages from the waist up, and the last one wore a loose green bodysuit, had really long grey hair that hid most of its face, and held a massive spiked metal club.

"Well… aren't you a bunch of ugly fuckers." Naruto and Artemis said at the same time as the one-armed Doki and club wielding Doki attacked them respectively.

Jumping into the air as her opponent smashed its weapon into the ground hard enough to leave a decent sized crater, Artemis landed atop the massive club before sprinting up the beast's arm. The hairy giant tried to swat her off with its free hand, but the goddess nimbly hopped over the strike and used the outstretched limb to springboard herself straight towards its head while the chain connected t other neck phased through it like a phantom.

As soon as she got close, she flicked her hands slightly causing the Dancing Lunar Blades to appear in her hands and promptly stabbed them into either side of the beast's neck, straight through its spine and major blood vessels.

While she was doing this, Naruto peppered his Doki with explosive arrows, blasting large chunks of flesh off. However, to both of their surprise, both giants suddenly vanished in clouds of smoke and the remaining one opened its mouth somehow.

The reason for this was soon revealed as a condensed stream of black fog covered in mouths shot out way faster then any of them were ready for and struck Artemis while she was still stuck in the air, dispelling her.

 **"** _ **Zeus dammit! I hate how weak those stupid clone bodies are**_ _!"_ Artemis yelled as she reappeared in the seal.

' _I know, we'll see about finding a sturdier substitute later Nee-chan.'_ Naruto thought while he and Okami-chan narrowly avoided a charge from the mouthy fog and firing his last premade explosive arrow at the armless Doki it originated from…

*Poof* "Dammit!"

…Only it to pull the same disappearing trick as its buddies.

"YIPE!"

Hearing a pained yelp behind him, Naruto spun around just in time to see Okami-chan crash into at the back of the destroyed cavern, curtesy of a familiar redhead chick now standing behind the whiskered blonde with her leg extended.

"Wha-Hrk!" Naruto had no time to react as the girl closed the remaining distance between them in the blink of an eye and chopped her hand across his throat. Stumbling backwards a few steps, Naruto reflexively grabbed at his throat as he coughed heavily from the blow, thus leaving him wide open for the follow up punch to his gut that knocked the wind out of his lungs and him to the ground.

Then, before the blonde had a chance to recover, the redhead sat on his legs and pinned him to the ground at the wrists and neck with large U-stakes. "Too fucking easy," She said with an arrogant smirk, before ripping his jacket open. "Now, let's get this bullshit over with already."

"O-Oi, what t-the hell are y-you doing?" Naruto asked between gasps and with a mild stutter as he squirmed uselessly in his bindings.

"What does it look like you mother-fucking retard?" The chick asked rhetorically while tearing off his shirt.

"Well, you have me p-pinned to the ground and are currently taking my c-clothes off against my will, so either you really don't like the color o-orange or I'm about to really regret not getting a Chasity belt last w-week." The whiskered blonde stated bluntly, causing the redhead to pause for a moment before her face turned bright red and a large tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"You fucking perverted sicko!" She screamed while punching him in the face several times, breaking his nose and fracturing his jaw if the loud cracking sounds were anything to go by.

Once she managed to calm down a bit, she huffed in disgust before smirking evilly while holding her hand up and scratching at it with her other, peeling off a layer of fake skin to reveal an intricate triangular seal upon her palm that glowed a sinister purple color. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Enjoy wha-Guh!" Naruto started to ask, hoping to stall for some more time, only to be cut off as the girl rammed her palm into his gut, knocking the wind out of him once more. However, this time she kept her hand in place, her grin widening as the whiskered blonde's seal appeared and gained a similar purple glow to it.

' _What is she doing?'_ Naruto wondered, biting his lip as pain flooded through his body.

" _ **Gah! She's tampering with the seal!"**_ Artemis yelled, pain in her voice as well. Peaking inside the seal, we could see the goddess struggling as the chains around her turned pitch black and multiplied tenfold. Not only that but large quantities of the Kyuubi's chakra were rapidly pouring down the chains and into her body that she was struggling to contain. " _ **You need to stop her now! Whatever she's doing is forcing a lot of the Kyuubi's chakra through the seal!"**_

' _I noticed!'_ Naruto thought as he felt the rush of energy, revitalizing him and increasing his strength enough that he could already feel the U-stakes starting to slip out of the ground…

*Shink* *Shink* *Shink*

…Though this proved to be pointless as the redhead pulled them out herself.

Caught off guard by this unexpected action, the whiskered blonde simply laid there in shock as the girl removed her hand from his stomach, revealing the seal that used to be on her hand now embedded in the middle of his seal, and jumping back before he had a chance to regain his wits.

"Well that's done, later you perverted asshole, I'm outa he-GAH!" She started to say while backing away, only to be quite rudely reminded that she and Naruto weren't the only ones there when Okami-chan tackled her to the ground. Grunting from the impact, the redhead only just managed to throw her arms out and stop the massive wolf from ripping her throat out. "Ugh, get off me you damn bitch!"

"Thanks Okami-chan." Naruto said as he stood up, stumbling a bit as another jolt of energy and pain rushed through him. Shaking it off for now, Naruto was about to go help her when a pained groan reached his ears.

Turning towards the source, his eyes widened in worry as he saw Ino's mostly buried form, with everything except her head and one of her arms covered in wood, dirt, and rock.

Glancing back at Okami-chan, he saw that she still had his attacker pinned to the ground and was slowly but steadily closing the distance between her jaws and the girl's throat.

"Hold on Ino, I'm coming!" He said while rushing over to the girl's side and quickly pulling the debris off, unaware that his eyes were slowly bleeding over from blue to silver.

"Uhhh, about time… I was wondering how long it was gonna take for you." The gossiper said with a grunt as the whiskered blonde moved a particularly large chunk of compact dirt to reveal the rest of her body along with Chui with her, both of which were thankfully relatively unharmed.

"Sorry, I was a bit preoccupied at the moment." Naruto said with a grin as he helped her to her feet. "You guys okay?"

"We'll live, but I think Chui's leg is broken." Ino muttered, glaring at the struggling redhead while the wolf wiggled his front paw in the air with a whimper.

"Well it could have… been… oh Kami." Naruto trailed off while clutching his stomach as his seal glowed a combination of purple, silver, and red.

" _ **Tartarus dammit! Naruto, stop chatting and stop that wolf from killing that girl! We need her to undo whatever she did!"**_ Artemis yelled, her entire body starting to glow reddish-silver as arcs of energy wafted off of her erratically. _ **"I can hold this for now but I'd rather not find out for just how long!"**_

' _Yeah, yeah, got it nee-chan,'_ Naruto thought as he shook off the pain once more, and ignored the worried/questioning gaze of Ino as he turned back towards where Okami-chan and the redhead were fighting in time to see the wolf literally seconds away from chomping through the girl's neck. "Stop Okami-chan, we need her alive."

Stopping just as her teeth were starting to sink into flesh, the wolf glanced at him in the corner of her eye while keeping her jaws firmly in place. However, that split second of distraction ended up costing her as in a single swift movement, the redhead suddenly smirked as black lines rapidly zig-zagged across her body.

With speed much greater then before, the redhead's arm shot up and grabbed Okami-chan's upper jaw and almost effortlessly pulled her off before holding up a flute with her other hand.

*Squelch*

…

Total silence filled the area while Naruto watched the girl pull the metal instrument out of Okami-chan's neck, allowing the wolf's blood to flow freely out of the wound. Then as the mighty canine stumbled back form shock and pain, the girl hopped to her feet and punted her across the area straight into Naruto, sending them both flying back.

"Uuuuh… ow, Okami-chan are you alright?" Naruto asked as he sat up, only to end up freezing when he saw the wolf's head laying on his chest, her eyes staring into his with sad acceptance as her blood soaked his bare chest.

Snapping out of his shock a second later, the whiskered blonde quickly pressed his hands against the wound to try and stanch the bleeding. It was too no avail though as the life sustaining fluid just kept flowing past his hands and Okami-chan's breathing slowed down.

"Oh yeah, take that bitch, that's what you get for fucking with Tayuya!" The now named Tayuya exclaimed with a dark smirk at seeing this, before suddenly turning around and running off as a soft silver and red aura began to ooze its way out of Naruto's navel.

Not even noticing the redhead's departure nor the chakra cloak starting to form around him, Naruto kept his entire focus on Okami-chan as he pressed harder on the gushing wound. "Come on Okami-chan, stay with me."

" _ **Naruto, I know you're upset but you need to keep your emotions in check."**_ Artemis grunted out, her form inside the seal glowing even brighter as much larger arcs of her power mixed with the Kyuubi's chakra erupted all around her. Unfortunately, her host was too far lost in his worry and grief to hear her words, and instead continued to try to save his new friend. " _ **Dammit Naruto snap out of it and listen to me!"**_

"You're gonna be okay, you'll see," Naruto muttered, tears threatening to fall from his now entirely silver eyes as his whiskers grew bolder and several streaks of his hair rapidly changed from blonde to red. "You'll be alright girl, just hang in there, please."

Smiling weakly at him with a fang grin, Okami-chan coughed a few times before howling softly as her eyes slowly closed, never to open again. As her last howl reached Naruto's ears however, something happened that made the whiskered blonde go still.

"… _Goodbye… Naruto-sama…"_

"Naruto?" Ino called out in concern and confusion as she, Chui, and a now awake Choji slowly walked up to the blonde, only to back off as the now fully formed shroud of chakra around him tripled in sized while flaring wildly.

" _ **Naruto! Calm down!"**_ Artemis yelled as loudly as she could, her teeth grit in pain as her body seemed to destabilize for brief moments and the previous arcs turned into raging torrents of energy. " _ **Listen to me dammit! Please!"**_

Yet once again her plea fell on deaf ears once more as the whiskered blonde gently moved Okami-chan off his chest and stood up, his body shaking and his expression set into one of pure undiluted rage.

"Uh Ino, I think we might want to give him some space." Choji said nervously as he slowly walked back from their enraged teammate.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good…" Ino started to say, only to trail off when she noticed how the entire area started to brighten dramatically. Glancing up at the sky, her eyes widened in surprise as the moon rapidly changed from a crescent to full, bathing the area in its soft silver rays.

" _I'm going to kill her,"_ Naruto muttered in a distorted voice, snapping Ino's attention back towards him as he clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood. " _I'm going to tear her apart."_

And then he was gone.

-Elsewhere in the Forest-

' _Gotta get out of here before the perverted fucker goes off.'_ Tayuya thought as she booked it as fast as she could towards the edge of the Forest of Death. However, as she ran the lines on her skin receding and her breathing became somewhat ragged. ' _Damn wolf forcing me to use my curse mark like that. Thank Kami Orochimaru-sama wasn't here like planned, otherwise he'd have killed me for that fucking pathetic display.'_

All she had to do was place the Chakra Extraction seal on the Kyuubi Jinchuricki and get the hell out of dodge before he went nuts from the overload of the Tailed Beast's power, but noooo… some stupid mutt decided it wanted a piece of the action.

' _Now I've got to clean my damn flute which is gonna be a bi-'_ *WHAM*

Tayuya was abruptly broken out of her thoughts by something slamming into her face at high velocity, launching her back the way she'd just come until she crashed against a large tree trunk, sinking several inches into the wood.

"Uuuuh… what the fuck was that?" The redhead thought aloud as she peeled herself out of the indent, shaking her head to clear away the cobwebs in her mind. Landing on a branch a few feet below her, she gingerly rubbed the middle of her face where a large red mark was already forming with a scowl. "Alright, who's the soon-to-be dead fucker who did that!?"

" _Me."_ Someone said right behind her, causing Tayuya to spin around while swiping with her blood covered flute, only for her eyes to widen when a certain whiskered blonde-redhead caught it with ease.

"…Oh son of bi-"

-End Chapter-

AN: Okay, I'll admit, that cliffhanger was me being a bit evil, couldn't help myself with trick or treat coming up and all. Speaking of treats, hope you all enjoyed the new chapter and please review. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go play with my pet bunny to cheer myself up after writing this chapter.

PS: Please follow me on my new Twitter account, under same name as this one


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jackson franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 20-

-Last Time-

 _"Uuuuh… what the fuck was that?" The redhead thought aloud as she peeled herself out of the indent, shaking her head to clear away the cobwebs in her mind. Landing on a branch a few feet below her, she gingerly rubbed the middle of her face where a large red mark was already forming with a scowl. "Alright, who's the soon-to-be dead fucker who did that!?"_

"Me _." Someone said right behind her, causing Tayuya to spin around while swiping with her blood covered flute, only for her eyes to widen when a certain whiskered blonde-redhead caught it with ease._

 _"…Oh son of bi-"_

-And Now-

"Gah!" Tayuya gasped in pain as Naruto lodged his fist into her gut, spittle flying from her mouth while she doubled over the limb.

Then faster than the redhead could blink the pissed blonde followed up with an uppercut to her jaw that knocked her several feet into the air. Crashing back first into a large branch, Tayuya screamed silently as her body curled around the tree limb with a loud crack.

It didn't end there though as Naruto appeared above her with a snarl and slammed his intertwined fists down on his opponent, smashing her straight through the wood and sending her plummeting. Crashing into the ground, she skipped across the forest floor like a ragdoll several times before vanishing from sight due to the foliage.

Landing on a nearby branch, Naruto only spent a split-second lining up before launching himself after her, the force of his takeoff obliterating the wood beneath him. However, just as the blonde reached the area that he'd lost Tayuya, he was blind-sided when said redhead shot right back at him and intimately introduced his face with the bottom of her sandal.

"You wanna play fucker!?" Tayuya, who now had zig-zagging black lines spreading across her body and bold running down her lip, yelled as she got back on her feet and caught the dazed blonde mid-air by his leg. "Then let's play!"

Digging her nails deep into the boy's leg with how tight her grip was, the pissed flute player spun around and started repeatedly slamming him into every nearby hard service she could reach, including but limited to several trees, the ground, and a couple large rocks.

However, after just a few moments of this Tayuya was forced to toss Naruto away as the acidic qualities of his silvery-red cloak burned her hand. As she watched him slam into the ground though, the redhead couldn't help but growl in irritation upon seeing all the wounds she'd inflicted with that assault already practically nonexistent.

' _Kuso, I need to deal with this bastard and get the fuck out of here pronto.'_ Tayuya thought, pulling out several kunai with explosive tags and tossing them all around the downed blonde before sprinting away at top speed as they started to sizzle.

*KRAKABOOM!*

With ear-splitting bang, the paper bombs went off with enough force to completely almost obliterate everything in a two-hundred-foot radius, with Naruto in the dead center having just gotten back on his feet with a glare.

Despite this, Tayuya didn't slow down for even a second, if anything moving even faster as a small mushroom cloud started to form behind her.

' _That should keep the fucker busy for at least a min-'_ "KUSO!" The redhead cut herself off with a shout while bending nearly ninety degrees backwards to avoid a mildly burned Naruto flying over her with the Lunar Blades slashing through the space her head had just been occupying.

Using the split-second opening that the blonde left from the failed surprise attack, Tayuya punched him right in the gut with all her strength, literally launching him skyward with an audible rush of wind.

"Gyaaah!" Unfortunately, that turned out to be a costly counterattack as the extremely concentrated chakra emitting from the seal on said boy's stomach roasted the girl's arm all the way down to her elbow, leaving her skin charred, blistered, and in some spots peeling off. "Fuck! Goddamn! Sonofabitch!"

Falling onto one knee, Tayuya continued to swear up a storm even as she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, clutching her burned arm to her chest while her markings started to pulse a burning red.

Meanwhile, up in the air Naruto managed to regain his bearings and halted his unwanted flight by grabbing a small branch and using his momentum to swing over to a larger one. Landing on all fours, he growled deeply as he glared at the injured redhead below and got ready to pounce…

" _-furball?"_

…Only to suddenly stumble with a confused look as a familiar female voice escaped his lips.

-Inside the Seal, a minute earlier-

' _Dammit, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.'_ Artemis thought with grit teeth as she sank to her knees, sweat pouring off her glowing form.

 **"You're foolish to resist** _ **little goddess**_ **, all your doing is making things worse."** The Kyuubi said from within the cage, chuckling maliciously as it watched the chained Olympian struggle.

"Oh, so now you speak," Artemis muttered in mild surprise and irritation, having grown used to beast staying quite given he hadn't spoken a word since the first day she'd been imprisoned. "I liked it better… when you were silent."

" **And I liked not being locked in this infernal cage by you worthless ningen, yet here we are."** The nine-tailed fox retorted bitterly before chuckling once more. **"But at least I'm not the one ensuring we'll both die today."**

"What's that supposed to mean… you overgrown-" Artemis started to ask, only to suddenly stop as her whole body went limp and collapsed to the floor, flickering and fritzing even more rapidly than before.

-Real World, Now-

" _What the hell? How am I out here?"_ Artemis muttered in confusion as she looked at 'herself' with a frown. She knew Naruto didn't give her control, the boy was way too enraged to even think of doing so, and she certainly didn't take over by force.

Even more confusing (read: really fucking alarming) was that she could not feel a connection to her body at all, or the power that she'd been struggling her damnedest to keep from flooding over. " _This shouldn't be possible. So how?"_

"GAAAH!" The moon goddess wasn't left with much time to think about this mystery though as a furious roar from below reminded her of a much pressing concern.

"You damn bastard!" Tayuya screamed as her markings, which now covered the majority of her body, pulsed rapidly. More intriguing though was the girl's burned arm, which was now covered by dark brown scale-shaped flesh and the nails grew into wicked claws, giving it an almost draconic appearance. I'm gonna rip your motherfucking head off and shove it down up your kami-damned throat until it bursts out of your ass!"

"… _Damn, looks like Naruto's luck with pissing enemies off still lives,"_ Artemis muttered with a small sweatdrop before jumping away to avoid the flute that flew towards her face at high velocity soon followed by the enraged redhead herself. " _Looks like this mystery will have to wait, I have to show this ignorant child exactly who she's messing with."_

With her piece said, Artemis re-summoned the Lunar Blades just in time to block a blow from Tayuya's reptilian arm, the goddess's eyes widening slightly in surprise when her daggers barely even cut into the scales. This however, didn't stop her from side-stepping the follow-up stab aimed at her torso.

Taking advantage of her opponent's enraged state, the moon goddess shoved the redhead's altered arm aside and slipped into her guard before going in for a pair of strikes to the-

-Seal-

Artemis's eyes snapped open and she shot up with a choking gasp as she coughed up the water in her lungs. Looking around while she heaved for air, she found herself back inside Naruto's mindscape, bound to the Kyuubi seal once more.

Before she could even catch her breath though, the goddess doubled over once more as she was smashed with the strain of containing all the power that was pumping into her body.

"What… what just… what's happening?" She gasped out as she slowly pushed herself back up, her question changing midsentence upon noticing the golden cracks forming in the blackened chains binding her.

-Real World-

Stopping cold as he was put back in control, Naruto blink in confusion as his brain was unable to register what happened and his weapons vanished in a flash of silver.

Unfortunately, this ended up leaving him completely defenseless to the punch that slammed into his chest like a cannonball, leaving deep slash marks and making him stumble back several feet. Tayuya gave him no time to recover though as she was right on top of him again, unleashing a furious rain of punches and slashes at any part of him she could reach, not even caring that each blow she landed left her exposed skin blistered.

After a particularly harsh slash to his face which left a trio of slash marks running almost perfectly parallel with his whiskers though, the blonde snapped out of his surprised daze and caught the redhead's flailing limbs with a deep growl.

"Let go of me you little bas- *CRACK* -SONOFABITCH!" Tayuya started to yell as she tried to pull her arms free of Naruto's acidic grip, only to end up screaming after he used said limbs to pull her close and slam his forehead into hers.

Growling even louder, the whiskered blonde headbutted the redhead again before ramming his knee into her gut hard enough to lift her a few inches into the air. Then, using his grip on her wrists, he flipped Tayuya over his shoulder and smashed her several inches into the forest floor.

Finally letting go of her arms, Naruto reached down and grabbed the flute player's throat with one hand and hefting up one of his daggers with the other.

But just as he started to bring the silver blade down on the Tayuya though, the boy suddenly froze once again and blinked a few times in apparent surprise.

' _I'm in control again?'_ Artemis thought in confusion, completely missing the redhead beneath her in her disoriented state…

*Thump* "IIIIEEEEEEE!"

…until said redhead announced her presence with a brutal kick to the crotch.

' _Oh sweet mother of Zeus!'_ The moon goddess thought, reflexively cupping her groin as pain shot through her body and fell forward, inadvertently smacking her forehead into Tayuya's face in the process.

"Get the fuck off of me you little bastard!" The girl yelled, shoving Artemis off before pulling herself out of the ground and climbing on top of the stunned goddess with her fists raised. "Eat! This! You! Fucker!"

Tayuya emphasized each word by punching or clawing at the chakra-cloaked blonde, the force of the blows causing the ground to crater deeper and deeper. Yet, with every hit landed the redhead's anger only grew as the wounds she inflicted healed almost instantly. "Why won't you just fucking DIE!?"

" _Funny,"_ Artemis started before lashing her arm out and stabbing Tayuya in the shoulder when she raised her clawed arm to strike. _"I was wondering the same thing about you!"_

"GAH! You fuc-" Tayuya started to scream angrily, only to be cut off by a mouthful of fist, "MPHGLH!" …literally.

' _Uuugh, gross.'_ Artemis thought with a grimace, saliva and blood oozing down her arm as she tried to pull her hand out of the violently choking redhead's throat, which was made difficult by the teeth digging into her knuckles. She'd meant to hit a rarely-known pressure point near the jawline that would paralyze Tayuya's neck muscles and larynx but missed due to her opponent moving closer rather than away like she'd expected and still being unused to fighting in Naruto's body.

Finally, after several moments of awkward struggling, the goddess technically turned boy managed to pull her limb free, but not without ripping multiple chunks of flesh off in the process.

"Vy thoath! Hoth! Thoo hoth! I Canth vreath!" Tayuya yelled almost unintelligibly between coughing fits, grasping at her neck as the mixture of god energy and bijuu chakra burned her esophagus.

At the same time though, she was unintentionally spitting blood, phlegm, and pits of flesh all over Artemis's face, making the goddess's eyebrow twitch as she lifted a leg and pressed it against the redhead's torso.

" _Get. Off."_ With a single strong shove, the goddess technically turned boy sent the distracted Tayuya tumbling away before flipping back onto her feet. " _Okay, let's finish th-"_

-Seal-

"-is… Tartarus dammit!" Artemis swore angrily as she found herself back in Naruto's mind, laying back-first on the flooded floor. Not bothering to sit up, the goddess simply grit her teeth in annoyance while flicking her hand, causing a staticky screen of Naruto's vision to appear above her in time for her to see said boy charge Tayuya in a blind rage.

However, the moment he got close, the whiskered blonde got punted halfway through a tree by the redhead, who's skin was now rapidly turning a dark brownish color, her eyes yellow with black sclera, and bone horns emerged from the sides and top of her head.

Yet while all of this was concerning, intriguing, and no small bit disturbing, the majority of Artemis's focus was on Naruto himself as he pulled himself out of the tree, more specifically at the boy's heavy breathing and trembling arms.

"Dammit Naruto… your body is nowhere near ready to handle this much strain yet…. you're just burning yourself out." The goddess muttered even though she knew her 'host' wouldn't listen, his mind completely overwhelmed by his rage and the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra.

"If this doesn't end soon…" Artemis trailed off, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence as Naruto and Tayuya tackled each-other to the ground, clawing, punching, and even biting whatever they could reach like rabid dogs.

 **"Still so foolish, little** _ **goddess,**_ **"** The Kyuubi said, the last part filled with sarcasm and mocking. **"If you had listened to me before, we would not be in this mess."**

"Oh really… and what do you mean by that?" The goddess asked with a dull look, figuring she really had nothing to lose at this point by listening to the massive fox. When all she got was a dark chuckle in response though, the goddess sent the beast a sour glare. "Are you actually gonna say something… or do you just want to die?"

 **"I've already told you what you need to know** _ **little goddess**_ **,"** The fox said mockingly before closing its eyes and seemingly going back to sleep, causing Artemis's glare to deepen. " **It's not my fault you refused to listen nor see what is blatantly obvious."**

' _Ugh, it's like trying to talk to my brother, always with the cryptic one-liners.'_ The goddess thought in annoyance as her brow furrowed, trying to figure out what the Kyuubi was saying. ' _Already told me what I need to know? When?'_

Thinking back over her conversation (if you could call it that) with the beast, Artemis blinked as a specific sentence jumped out at her.

' _Foolish to resist, making it worse. He doesn't mean…'_ Raising her hand up in front of her face, Artemis stared at the glowing cracked bindings around her wrist critically just as another pulse of power slipped through her mental grasp. Eyes widening as she saw the fractures grow even wider, it finally clicked in the goddess's mind. ' _Of course, this seal was probably meant for just the Kyuubi's chakra, whoever made it wasn't expecting me.'_

Snapping out of her thoughts as yet another rumbling chuckle shook the sewer-like mindscape, Artemis turned her attention back towards the cage to see the Kyuubi staring down at her with a cruel smirk. **"You get it now. Either you continue to struggle and we die for sure once that ningen kills our warden… or you give in, let our combined power loose, and we still probably die."**

Artemis sighed in annoyance as she let her arm flop down, knowing what the beast said was all too true, since the surge of chakra and divine power would be too much for Naruto to keep under control in his current state of mind.

In short, he'd become a living bomb, one capable of wiping out almost the entire Forest of Death easily.

Glancing up at the screen once more, she was further reminded of her limited options upon seeing Naruto pinned to the ground by a very battered Tayuya and struggling to stop the redhead from impaling his head with a kunai.

' _Dammit, where's Athena when you need her? She'd have a thousand plans on how to deal this mess already.'_ Artemis thought as she racked her brain for some solution that didn't end with her dying or exploding, preferably both. Massaging her temple as she saw Naruto slowly but steadily losing the standoff thus allowing the knife to inch closer and closer, the goddess felt the pressure build as she found coming up with one massive blank…

…Before stopping to stare at her hand as it fizzled in and out of cohesion.

' _Maybe he doesn't have to handle it, not by himself at least.'_ Artemis thought, her eyes widening as an idea popped in her head, an idea just crazy enough to work. _'But if I do this…'_

Lowering her hand, the goddess took one last glance up at the screen and saw the kunai literally centimeters away before sighing deeply and closing her eyes. "Fuck it."

Artemis vanished from sight as an eruption of silver energy burst forth from where she lay and rapidly flooded through the mindscape.

Meanwhile, within the seal, the Kyuubi watched this all with half-lidded eyes and the same smirk on his lips. **"Hmph, well played little goddess, well played."**

-Reality-

"Vime tho vie fucher!" Tayuya yelled with a mad grin, slowly inching the kunai in her grasp closer to Naruto's eye while completely ignoring as said blonde's nail dug deep into her wrists and his chakra cloak burning her skin.

Growling in response, Naruto grit his teeth and pushed back with all his might, his arms trembling violently from the strain.

Just as the tired limbs were about to give out fully though, the blonde suddenly froze and the cloak of chakra around him vanished, causing Tayuya to stop for a split-second in surprise.

That would be one of the many things the redhead regretted doing today as not even a second after that she was sent flying away when a pure silver cloak literally exploded outwards from Naruto's body.

Tumbling across the ground several yards before recovering from the shock and regaining her bearings, Tayuya flipped to her feet and skid to a stop with a snarl. Glaring at the whiskered blonde as he slowly stood back up, she was just about to charge at him when the rational part of her brain finally decided to its job and made her notice several interesting details.

The first and foremost were the glowing silver vine-like markings that were branching from the blonde's seal across his body, up the sides of the boy's neck, intertwining with his whisker marks, and finally curling around his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they were no longer a red-tinted silver but a metallic blue that shimmered in the moonlight that were filled with cold fury.

Finally, the chakra cloak around Naruto had changed from a flaring inconsistent mess of energy into a transparent outline of Artemis.

"…Whath ve fuch?"

"T _his_ fi _gh_ t i _s ov_ er." Tayuya didn't even have time to blink after this statement before Naruto's fist had a very intimate meeting with her chest. A visible blast of concussive force shot from the redhead back and the air rang with a sickening *crack* as several of her ribs shattered, causing her to fall to her knees gasping for breath.

Immobilized by agony, all the redhead could nothing as she was lifted up by the scruff of her neck.

" _You s_ h _all_ p _ay for_ wh _at_ yo _u d_ i _d to_ Ok _ami-c_ ha _n,_ " The blonde said coldly, his voice coming out a distorted mixture of his own and Artemis's, making it impossible to tell who was actually in the 'driver's seat' as it were. Raising their free hand, a ball of pure white light formed in their palm that soon turned into an ornate silver arrow. "A _ny_ las _t wo_ rds?"

*Cough* "Vo… tho hell… *Cough* vasharth." Tayuya coughed out, weakly spitting a glob of blood in their face.

"You _first."_ They said stabbing the arrow into the redhead's stomach, causing the whole area to be filled with a blinding light.

When it cleared, it revealed Naruto all alone, with the remnants of the seal Tayuya applied peeling off his stomach and disintegrating to ash. After a few moments of total silence, the chakra cloak and vine markings faded away before the whiskered blonde fell to his knees.

Panting heavily as his whole body trembled from exhaustion and overexertion, he looked up at the sky to see the once again crescent moon directly overhead, tears slowly pouring down his cheeks before he collapsed entirely, falling face-first.

Just as he lost consciousness though, Naruto saw, ' _Huh, a rabbit with antlers, never seen one of those before.'_

 **-** End Chapter-

AN: For those of you who've read Percy Jackson, or are simply smart enough to put two and two together, you all know what just happened. And before anyone gets all huffy about Tayuya not getting murderized and such, trust me when I say what's coming next is a fate much worse than death (…probably). As for those who've voiced complaints about the seal Tayuya used (such as Orochimaru not being able to make one and such) I understand what you mean and I have a very good explanation for that which will be revealed in the coming chapters.

(SPOILER WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM!)

Finally, for all of those who've said how much you liked Okami-chan and are upset at her death (which was a lot of you to my surprise) I say this: **She will be back**

(END SPOILER)

Thanks for reading and please review.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Percy Jacksons franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 21-

-Last Time-

 _When it cleared, it revealed Naruto all alone, with the remnants of the seal Tayuya applied peeling off his stomach and disintegrating to ash. After a few moments of total silence, the chakra cloak and vine markings faded away before the whiskered blonde fell to his knees._

 _Panting heavily as his whole body trembled from exhaustion and overexertion, he looked up at the sky to see the once again crescent moon directly overhead, tears slowly pouring down his cheeks before he collapsed entirely, falling face-first._

 _Just as he lost consciousness though, Naruto saw,_ 'Huh, a rabbit with antlers, never seen one of those before _.'_

-And Now-

*Ba-bum* … *Ba-bum*

 _The world slowly blurs into sight, only everything is distorted and fuzzy, so all that was visible was masses of green and brown. The only thing that could be felt was pain, dull aching pain that flooded the senses every few moments for eternity until it all faded back to darkness._

*Ba-bum* … *Ba-bum*

 _It comes back again, just as unclear and blurry as before, however this time there was a large white and red mass moving around and was either getting closer or larger as it blocked more of the surroundings from sight. Soon it was the only thing that could be seen while a loud sniffling started ringing out and the sensation of hot air on skin was felt before it all vanished again._

*Ba-bum* … *Ba-bum*

 _More hot air, this time on the neck, what was causing it? Also what was that pressure and slimy feeling? Why was everything so blurry? Why was the world moving? None of these questions were answered as all went black once more._

*Ba-bum* … *Ba-bum*

 _Soft, softness all around, so many different colors all shuffling around while hot air and that same slimy feeling buffeted different parts of the body. The only thing that stayed consistent was a soft gold mass that stayed against the chest._

*Ba-bum*… *Ba-bum*

-Unknown Location-

"Ugh, is it morning already?" Naruto groaned tiredly as his eyes slowly flickered open, his head shifting to the side and snuggling into his pillow as sunlight landed on his face. "Stupid sun, why can't you ever be considerate of the resting?"

As he grumbled, the whiskered blonde tried to raise his hand to block out the irritating, only to blink in confusion when he felt an unexpected weight keeping his arm in place. In fact, now that he was paying attention, Naruto noticed that there were several different weights pressing down on all parts of his body.

"What the hell?" He muttered in confusion while lifting his head up, blinking several times to help clear up the mugginess of his vision, before both his eyebrows shot up in surprise at what he found. One might think it was the moderately sized cavern that was a mish-mash of stone, earth, and roots that had small segments giving off a soft gently glow, and no visible exit but no, that was not it at all.

The real cause of his surprise could be summed up in two words, wolf puppies.

Naruto was literally buried underneath two or three dozen fluffy adorable sleeping wolf puppies, with even his 'pillow' actually being one of the little furballs.

At first glance, one might have mistaken them for full grown dogs given each one was easily the size of a German Sheppard, but Naruto knew better thanks to Artemis and could see that all of the sleeping canines still had their puppy fur and puppy teeth (or were just straight up toothless). Most of them were colored various forms of grey, greenish-brown, or plain brown, though a few had more exotic pelts such as red, silver, or blue-grey.

The most attention grabbing though, was the one curled up right on top of Naruto's chest, a young female who was easily the oldest of the pups and had a bright golden fur coat with white underbelly. Staring at the snoozing canines in confusion for several moments, the whiskered blonde's eyes suddenly widened as memories flooded back into his mind, memories of the attack, of getting the funky seal put on him, of Okami-chans...

"Oh right..." Naruto muttered sadly, his head flopping down while seemingly deflating underneath the literal dog pile. "…That happened."

Laying there in silence, Naruto felt his eyes sting slightly as tears started to build up, but before they could fall the blonde-redhead shook his head and breathed deeply. He could mourn his friend later, right now he had to make sure everyone else was okay, and he knew exactly where to start.

' _Arty-nee? Are you alright?'_

…

' _Arty-nee? Hey, can you here me?'_

…

'… _Artemis-neechan?'_

…

Panic and worry started to rush through Naruto's heart as he was met with total silence, no wry remarks, witty retorts, or even just an annoyed-

" _ **Uuuugh, for the love of Zeus keep your voice down Naruto, my head is killing me."**_

' _Oh thank Kami!'_ Naruto thought in relief as Artemis's voice rang out, filled to the brim with exhaustion, grogginess, and a tinge of irritation, yet he was glad to hear it. ' _I was starting to think I lost you somehow Arty-nee. How are you feeling?'_

" _ **Like Hephaestus hit me in the head with an Axe like he did our father,**_ " The goddess grumbled, the sound of joints popping telling the blonde that she was likely stretching as she spoke. _ **"Otherwise I'm fine, you aren't getting rid of me that easily."**_

Fully calmed down now, Naruto smiled briefly as he settled down in his fluffy prison. ' _That's good to-'_

" **Surprising if you ask me given how wimpy you Greeks are."**

" _ **Oh go eat a pile of dragon dung you stinking Roman."**_

…

' _Arty-nee… who was that?'_ Naruto asked as a voice he did not recognize cut off his earlier thought. It was feminine and sounded eerily similar to Artemis, including her usual apathetic neutral tone, however it had distinct clipped edge to it that made it more commanding and formal sounding.

" _ **Naruto, remember when I said there might be a time where I'd act or sound differently, and may even go by a different name?"**_ Artemis asked in an irritated tone.

' _Uhhh, I think so.'_

" **Well she was talking about me,"** The unknown voice chipped in, sounding equally as annoyed. " **My name is Diana, the true goddess of the moon, it's nice to meet you."**

Peering inside the seal, we could find Artemis sitting on her usual platform with the now named Diana seated beside her fiddling with the chains on her wrists. She looked identical to the Greek Goddess of the Moon aside from a few small differences such as her outfit being a darker color, narrower eyes, and a slightly redder shade of hair.

" _ **True goddess my ass, you aren't anything more than a cheap Roman rip off of yours truly."**_ Artemis stated scathingly while glaring at the Roman goddess who sneered back.

" **I dare you to say that again you useless Greek poser."**

" _ **Say what, that your whole pantheon is nothing more than a poor copy of mine? That you Romans couldn't even come up with your own gods to worship?"**_

" **Oh you are asking for-"**

' _OI!'_ Naruto yelled mentally, getting the arguing duo to stop and snap their attention back to him. ' _While I'd love to start asking for why there is ANOTHER person in my head, and why you two don't like each-other, we have way more important things to worry about right now.'_

" **Which would be?"/** _ **"Which would be?"**_ The pair asked at the same time.

' _Well I don't know, how about the fact I have no idea where we are, how we got here, or where the hell Ino and Choji are?'_ The blonde listed off dully. '… _Also, I'm buried in wolf puppies for some reason.'_

" **Relax, the pack likely found you whilst you were unconscious and took you to their den,"** Diana stated like it was the most obvious thing ever. **"And the puppies were probably just curious about you, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the first human to ever be allowed here alive."**

" _ **Agreed,"**_ Artemis muttered reluctantly, Naruto swearing he could hear the frown on her face as she spoke. " _ **As for the others, they are probably nearby as well since the pack knows they are with you. Try asking the pup on your chest, she looks the oldest so she might be able to tell us where and how to get out of here."**_

' _Okay, thanks guys,'_ Naruto thought with a nod.

" _ **You're welcome."/**_ **"Do not call me a guy again."**

Wiggling one of his arms around until he was able to pull it free, the whiskered blonde flexed it a few times to get the blood flowing through it properly before giving the golden wolf pup a gently shake.

" _Ugh, stop it."_

…

Naruto stared with a dumbfounded expression as the wolf grumbled in annoyance and shifted her head to the side. ' _I can… understand her?'_

" **Don't sound so surprised Naruto,"** Diana said blandly **"My useless counterpart did tell you that you would be able to 'speak wolf' as it were one day, and today is apparently that day."**

 _ **"Why I outa…"**_

 **"You outa what? Fail miserably like the pathetic little-"**

 **"** _ **That's it!"**_

' _Oh this is gonna be delightful,'_ Naruto thought sarcastically as his mind was filled with the sound of punching, smacking, and harsh insults. ' _Will you two calm please, you're giving me a headache.'_

 _"_ _ **Two-bit rip-off!"**_ **"Spineless hippy!"**

' _I guess not."_ Knowing a lost cause when he saw one, the whiskered blonde sighed in defeat before turning his attention back to the real world as he nudged the wolf pup again. "Hey, wake up."

" _Mehhhh… don't wanna."_ She groaned while shoving the hand away with a paw and snuggling back against his chest.

"Come on, it's time to get up." Not one to be easily deterred though, Naruto gave the now semi-awake canine one last shake, causing her to finally open up her eyes and glower at him irritably with her cerulean gaze…

…Before almost instantly perking up as soon as she saw him.

" _Ooooh! The new Alpha! You're awake!"_ She exclaimed excitedly, hopping onto her paws and getting right in the blonde's face. " _I have so many questions! What are you? Where did you come from?_

…

" _ **O**_ **h** _ **d**_ **ear** _ **Zeus/**_ **Jupiter** _ **, s**_ **h** _ **e's y**_ **ou."** Artemis and Diana said at the same time as the wolf kept rambling off excitedly, not really giving Naruto a chance to speak.

" _Why do you have so little fur? Why are your paws so funny looking? Do you-Hey!"_

" _No hogging! I wanna ask him something!"_

" _Me to! Me to!"_

" _No way! Me first!"_

To make it even more problematic, due to how loud she was speaking she'd inadvertently awoken the other pups and before Naruto knew it, he was buried under a writhing mass of fur as each of the little canines vied for his attention.

' _Well this is a fine pickle we're in.'_ Naruto thought with a chuckle, any irritation he might have felt overpowered by amusement upon seeing the little furballs so full of excitement. After a few minutes of adorable puppy antics though, the whiskered blonde decided enough was enough and started struggling his way to freedom.

It took quite a bit of shoving, but eventually he was able to emerge from the literal dog pile and get to his own two feet.

" _Why are you walking on just your hind legs?"_

" _Can you show me how to do that?"_

" _I wanna play a game!"_

"Alright, that's enough you guys! Calm down will ya?" Naruto said loudly, getting all of the wolf puppies to fall silent. "I promise to play with you all later, but right now I need to go find my friends. Have any of you seen them? They look like me but one's prettier and the other is fa-erm… Big-boned."

" **Naruto, I highly doubt they understand that kind of-"**

" _Oh yeah! You mean the other new things!"_ The gold wolf unintentionally cut Diana off as she jumped to the front of the group. " _I know where they are! Follow me Alpha-sama!"_

" _ **You were saying?"**_

" **Oh shut up."**

"Thanks," Naruto said, following after the wolf pup as she headed towards one side of the cavern while the rest finally settled down, pacified by his promise to play later. "I'm Naruto by the way, Naruto Uzumaki."

" _That's a weird name,"_ The wolf said with a giggle, making a tic mark appear on the side of the whiskered blonde's head but he didn't say anything. " _I'm Liru, it's nice to meet you Naruto-sama."_

"' _ **Enthusiastic' huh, the name fits."**_ Artemis said with a quiet laugh as she watched the now named Liru practically bouncing as she walked.

" **Either it's one heck of a coincidence or her mother knew what to expect."** Diana agreed, giggling a bit as well.

' _Glad to hear you two getting along.'_ Naruto thought while doing a bit of stretching to get the kinks out of his muscles, glad the goddesses had settled down, all their yelling and screaming had been making it pretty hard for him to think.

However, the pair of scoffs he heard gave him a feeling that his trouble on that front was far from over with.

" _Come on! Move!"_ Naruto was snapped back to reality when he heard Liru bark out in annoyance. At first thinking she was talking to him, he opened his mouth to apologize, only to stop before the words even left his mouth when he saw what the blonde wolf pushing her head against a large rock easily three times her size with all her might. " _Mooooooove!"_

"Uh, do you need a hand?" The whiskered blonde asked with a quirked brow at the rather comical sight, figuring the rock was covering the exit based on the minute breeze he could feel and the old scratch marks on the ground.

" _No! I can do it. I can do this!"_ Liru said, though whether it was actually directed towards him or if she was just psyching herself up was up to debate. " _I can do it. I can… do it… I can… I… need help."_

Whichever it was, it didn't matter in the end as after several minutes of trying with barely any progress, she admitted defeat and Naruto joined her in.

"On three, one, two, three!" With a pair of grunts, the blonde duo started pushing in sync, causing the boulder to slowly slide back thanks to their combined effort.

"Phew, that thing is freaking heavy." Naruto said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

" _I know right, I keep saying we need something lighter but nooo, everyone just says it's for the best."_ Liru grumbled as she rolled her shoulders.

"Well given where you guys live it's probably… is for… whoa…" Naruto started to say, only to trail off with a dropped jaw once he got a decent look at his surroundings.

"… **Whoa indeed."** Diana couldn't help but mutter in agreement with the blonde-redhead.

The whiskered boy found himself in another cavern, only this one easily dwarfed the last one in size, being wide enough to fit his entire apartment building almost four times over and a few stories tall. It clearly wasn't a natural cavern, way too uniform, and had been carved out in the rough shape of an inverted cone, being the narrowest near the bottom and widening the higher you got, with a wide spiraling earthen pathway carved into the walls to allow one to ascend or descend, Naruto being at the bottom.

Along this path were several more holes, a few dozen at the least, which appeared to lead to other small caverns with a few blocked off just like the one Naruto just left. Just like in the prior cavern though, dozens of glowing roots were interwoven with the walls and bursting out at random segments which illuminated the whole place.

Finally, there was a solitary tunnel much larger than the rest at the very top which lead outside if the sunlight streaming inwards was any indication.

If the place itself wasn't awe-inspiring enough as it was, the sheer number of wolves wandering about the place certainly did the job. Dozens of the massive canines were going about their business, whether it be carrying in freshly caught prey, carrying out old useless bones and junk, packing down earth where it was getting too loose, or just going about chatting with other wolves.

' _I knew these wolves were smart but holy sweet Kami look at this place!'_ Naruto thought in awe as he just stood there taking in the sight, barely even noticing as any wolf that passed him would stop and bow with a respectful uttering of ' _Alpha-sama'_.

" _ **Wolves have always been an impressively intelligent species in my opinion, but these ones are really something else."**_ Artemis said with a low whistle of approval.

 **"It makes sense though, with how treacherous this forest is it was either be adapt or die,"** Diana added. **"Clearly these ones chose the former."**

"Naruto!" Snapping back to reality once more, Naruto jerked his head to the side to see Ino, Choji, and Chui on a higher platform, the former waving to get his attention while the latter pair were munching away at a roasted boar leg and a raw one respectively. All three of them were a bit roughed up, with scratches and bruises all over, but otherwise seemed to be alright.

" _See! See! I told you I knew where they were!"_ Liru said proudly, her chest puffing up and everything.

"That you did, that you did," Naruto said while reaching down and scratching the blonde wolf's head, making her sigh appreciatively as the rest of team 10 hopped down to the bottom floor. "Hey guys, I'm glad to see you're okay."

"You too," Ino said with a relieved grin before quickly walking around her fellow blonde with a critical gaze. "You are okay, right? I know you heal fast and all, but you were pretty screwed up when these guys brought you in."

"I'm alright, feel like I got smacked around by bowser again but otherwise fine," Naruto said, admitting the last bit as he flexed his arm around a bit. "How long was I out anyway?"

"Just over a day, we were starting to get worried… were thinking about forfeiting… so we could take you to a doctor." Choji said, pausing every few words in order to take another bite of his food.

"Well, then it's a good thing you didn't, it would've sucked if we ended up losing just because I needed a nap." The whiskered blonde said with a chuckle.

"Oh please, like that would stop you from trying anyway," Ino said with a good-natured roll of her eyes while suddenly crouching next to Liru and petting her head. "Certainly didn't stop you from making a new friend, huh cutie?"

" _Ooooooh, that feels nice,"_ Liru said, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as the blonde's well-manicured nails scratched at her scalp just the right amount. _"Could you get my back please? There's an itch that's been bothering me for like forever now."_

"She wants to know if you'll scratch her back." Naruto translated for Ino, getting a nod from said blonde as she started doing just that with her free hand, causing the pup to slump with a happy sigh.

"So you're alright as well Artemis, that's good to know." The pseudo-mind reader said while giving Liru a few last scratches under the chin before switching over to Chui when he nudged her side with a pout.

"She is, but that wasn't Arty-nee," Naruto said with a cheeky grin. "Guess who can understand wolves as well now?"

"Oh, well good for you then." Ino said with a shrug as she continued to pet Chui.

…

"You're not even a little surprised by that?" Naruto asked after a few moments of silence, caught off guard by the girl's casual acceptance of his new ability.

"Naruto, after everything we've been through, do you honestly expect anything you do will surprise me anymore?" Ino asked back in a dull tone.

"…Fair enough," Naruto muttered sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. "So… wicked place huh?"

"Understatement of the year," Choji said after finally finishing off his leg and handing the bone off to a random wolf that happily started gnawing on it. "These guys built their own little village down here."

"No kidding, they have this whole place laid out just like Konoha with specific areas for to store food, sleeping areas, a meeting spot where I think they decide where to hunt for the day, heck they even dug out small channels connected to a nearby river so they have a bathing area and fresh drinking water." As Ino listed off while gesturing to various tunnels, Naruto noticed how each one had a very distinct sets of scratch marks above each one. "I think they've been studying us for ideas or something, cause it's almost like the water canals Konoha has."

" _You would not be wrong young one."_ A gruff yet tired sounding male voice said, getting Naruto to once more jerk his attention elsewhere, with Ino and Choji doing the same a split second later. This source of the voice was an old-looking wolf with greying brown fur, a plethora of battle-scars littering his whole body, and most noticeably missing most of his left hind leg.

" _Sabaibaru-sama!"_ Liru exclaimed before rushing over to the elderly canine and bouncing around him excitedly. " _Are you here to tell a story again? I love your stories! They are always so cool! Like that one where you and Hanta-sama took on that mean old crocodile by the Trout River or the one about…"_

As the pup kept rambling on and on about stuff to Sabaibaru, Ino couldn't help but send Naruto a dull look out of the corner of her eye. ' _Of course he had to find the one wolf that acted just like he does.'_ She might not be able to understand what the golden wolf was saying, but she'd seen that amused yet exasperated expression on the elderly wolf's face enough times from the Third Hokage now to know what was going on.

" _Your enthusiasm still knows no bounds, huh little one? Don't worry, I'll tell you and the other pups a story in a little bit,"_ Sabaibaru said while playfully bopping the energetic pup making her giggle before gently nudging her to the side and bowing towards Naruto. " _Hello Alpha-sama, it is a pleasure to finally speak to you face to face."_

"Uh, nice to meet you as well," Naruto said somewhat awkwardly with a slight bow of his own, not really certain what he should say. "And it's just Naruto, I'm not one for formalities."

" _Of course… Naruto-sama."_ The elderly wolf said with a tiny cheeky smirk, making Naruto sigh with a roll of his eyes.

' _Fricking smartass.'_

" **Better a smartass than a dumbass."**

' _Are you calling me stupid?'_

" **No, just stating a fact."**

"So what did you mean by Ino was right? You guys have been spying on Konoha?" Naruto asked, getting said blonde to snap her gaze towards him and then towards the wolf.

" _Indeed, many in not most of the inhabitants here have taken to observing and learning from your kind both inside and outside the forest to better survive, us included."_ Sabaibaru stated with a nod.

"Wow, that's kind of disturbing to know." Being spied on and studied by practically every living thing around, definitely up there on the creep-out meter alright.

" _I could say the same about having one's home be used as a testing ground for a bunch of jerks who constantly wreck the place and pointlessly slaughter everything that crosses their paths."_ Sabaibaru retorted blandly, though with no real bitterness surprisingly.

"…Oh yeah," Naruto muttered, unable to stop himself from wincing at the elderly canine's blunt statement. "Sorry about that."

" _It is fine, we have long since gotten used to dealing with your kind's presence Naruto-sama."_

"Seriously, you can stop calling me that Sabai-san," Naruto said with a frown, looking away from the three-legged wolf with shame on his face. "I don't deserve it… not after what happened to Okami-chan."

" _You speak of Yokina-sama, our prior alpha correct?"_ Sabaibaru asked, his tone turning solemn as he and all the other nearby wolves bowed their heads in respect.

"Yokina… yeah." Naruto muttered, his guilt increasing upon realizing he never even bothered to ask if Okami-chan had an actual name.

" _ **Don't beat yourself up Naruto, there was no way you could have known,"**_ Artemis said in a comforting tone. _ **"Besides, she clearly hadn't minded being called Okami-chan, otherwise she'd have told you otherwise."**_

' _I know… but still-'_

" _Yokina-sama's loss is hard, but you should not blame yourself for what happened young one,"_ Sabaibaru said, cutting Naruto off mid-thought. " _You may be Alpha-sama now, yet you are also still just a pup, one who has much left to learn."_

Hobbling over until he was directly in front of the whiskered blonde, the elderly wolf made the boy look him directly in the eye.

" _The world can be a harsh place and every day in it could be your last, this is something all members of the pack understand_ ," "He said, an air of wisdom and personal experience surrounding him as he spoke. " _Yomina-sama knew this but still chose to help you, and I can see in your eyes that you'd have done the same for her."_

"In a heartbeat, but-"

" _Then do not sully her decision by blaming yourself for it,"_ Sabaibaru stated adamantly before stepping past the blonde and walking towards the nursery, only to stop after a few feet and glance back. " _Now, onto other matters, you and your two companions are in the midst of some kind of trial if I'm not mistaken, correct?"_

Thankful for the change of subject, Naruto nodded his head as he visibly relaxed back to normal. "Yeah, we're trying to make it to a tower in the middle of the forest in the next three days while getting two different scrolls, one which we already have."

"Actually Naruto," Choji cut in, drawing the whiskered blonde's attention while he reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a trio of scrolls, two earth and a heaven. "We may have forgotten to mention these guys apparently like to collect stuff, they let me and Ino dig around in all the junk while you were resting and we found these guys just laying around."

"Among other things." Ino added with a greedy smirk as she patted her own pouch, causing it to jingle with the sound of metal hitting metal.

Blinking in surprise, Naruto stared at his teammates blankly for several moments. ' _That's… convenient_.'

" _ **Ridiculously so**_ ," Artemis stated with a nod. " _ **Your luck scares me sometimes."**_

" **No kidding, he could give Fortuna a run for her money with bizarre luck like this."** Diana muttered dully.

"Okay," The whiskered blonde muttered once he snapped out of his stupor. "Then I guess we just need to get to the tower."

" _I suggest you get something to eat and as much rest as you can before you leave then, the path to that place is short but treacherous for the ill prepared,"_ Sabaibaru stated before continuing to limp away. " _Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some stories to tell, come on Liru."_

 _"Yay! Stories!"_ Liru cheered excitedly while chasing after the three-legged wolf, the pair vanishing into the previously blocked tunnel. Meanwhile, all the other wolves who'd stopped to listen in continued about their business like nothing happened.

…

"I'll be honest, that wasn't what I was expecting to happen." Naruto said with a tilted head.

"Well, what were you expecting?" Ino asked curiously while Choji pocketed their scrolls.

"Rejection from the pack, denial that I was their Alpha, maybe a demand saying we had to stay here forever or just never speak about this place again, stuff like that," Naruto listed off while ticking his fingers. "Am I the only one a bit weirded out by how chill these guys are being about all this? Uh, no offense Chui… er, I'm sorry, what's your name?"

" _None taken Naruto-sama,"_ Chui said with a small smile while nuzzling against Ino as she kept scratching his head. " _And it's Messenja but Chui is fine as well, I quite like it actually."_

"Okay Chui it is, but still, I figured you'd guys would still be a bit more resentful or something towards me," The whiskered blonde said. "I did kind of just show up out of nowhere and took over the joint, not to mention I'm you know… human."

" _That may be true, but Yokina-sama was the one who challenged you and lost, something most of the pack saw with their own eyes,"_ Chui stated calmly, pulling his head away from Ino's hand as he spoke. " _That means you are Alpha-sama now and the pack will follow you until such time that another claims the position from you or you die, whichever comes first. That's just the way things work."_

"Alright, if you say so." Naruto said with a shrug, even though he really didn't get it. But hey, why argue about having a bunch of super smart and deadly canines at his command?

*Gurgle*

Besides, he really could use something to eat right now. "So, where's the food again?"

-End Chapter-

Translation:

Liru: Enthusiastic, Energetic

Sabaibaru: Survivor, Survival

Yokina: Cheerful, Joyous

Messenja: Messenger

AN: Okay, I'll be honest, I really winged it with this chapter. I had a lot of ideas, and I mean a lot of ideas, for it and wasn't sure how to write it so I just kinda went with the flow and this is what I ended up with, I hope it's alright. And yes, the wolf names are based on their most iconic trait or skill. Thanks for reading and please review.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Percy Jackson or Naruto franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

From the Other Side

-Chapter 22-

-Last Time-

 _"That may be true, but Yokina-sama was the one who challenged you and lost, something most of the pack saw with their own eyes," Chui stated calmly, pulling his head away from Ino's hand as he spoke. "That means you are Alpha-sama now and the pack will follow you until such time that another claims the position from you or you die, whichever comes first. That's just the way things work."_

 _"Alright, if you say so." Naruto said with a shrug, even though he really didn't get it. But hey, why argue about having a bunch of super smart and deadly canines at his command?_

 _*Gurgle*_

 _Besides, he really could use something to eat right now. "So, where's the food again?"_

-And Now-

"Sheesh, Choji wasn't kidding when he said these guys had collected a lot of junk." Naruto said from inside a moderately sized cavern as he and his two 'sisters' sifted through one of several haphazard piles of stuff such as kunai, shuriken, swords, and other bladed weapons in varying conditions, camping gear like broken tents and pots, all sorts of random knickknacks, and even a random bone or two of dubious origin.

The whiskered boy had decided to check out the junkheap after getting something to eat to see if he could find anything that could prove useful for later like Ino and Choji, though so far all he'd really managed to do was refill his supply of shuriken and kunai. "I think somebody might have a hording problem."

"More likely, they just don't like having their home covered in garbage and actually bothered to clean it up unlike the ones who left this stuff." Artemis stated dully with a tinge of disgust in her tone.

"You humans do have a particularly nasty habit of leaving your trash around wherever you please." Diana muttered grumpily in agreement, tossing aside an old arrow she found after the head fell off from a light flick.

"You gals know that was a joke, right? _"_ The blonde asked rhetorically while eyeing a well-conditioned looking Kunai he found, rolling his eyes when all he got in response was a mumble pair of acknowledgements from the goddesses before they continued to fume over littering and pollution. "In all seriousness though, we should probably come back here after the exams and do something about this mess. Heck, we could at least take all these old weapons to Ten-chan, she'd probably go bonkers for all this free scrap metal."

"Assuming she doesn't throw a fit first from seeing so many perfectly good weapons that had been left out to rust." Diane countered as she picked up a tanto that just needed a bit of sharpening, making Naruto grimace at the thought.

If there were two things he'd learned not to do when in the weapon specialist's presence on their mission, it was to A: Not crack a joke about her hair making her look like a panda (poor Choji learned the hard way) and B: Never EVER let her see you improperly care for a weapon.

"Good point Diana-neechan, best make sure she's in a good mood before we do that just to be safe, _"_ Naruto said, tossing aside the kunai when he noticed the subtle cracking around the handle before standing up and dusting himself off. "Alright, I'm not finding anything we need and we're pretty much out of time, how about you two?"

"Nothing but useless junk," Diana said as she did the same as the blonde before suddenly dispelling into smoke. " **I say we go back to the others, the sooner I am away from the presence of this filth, the better."**

"Our companions likely picked away anything of value to be found whilst we were-Huh?" Artemis started to say as she got up as well, before pausing when she noticed something stuck on her sleeve. Raising the arm up to her face, the Grecian goddess blinked in surprise upon seeing a thin silver chain snagged to her wrist with a medallion hanging off the end.

It was made of pure silver just like the chain and roughly the size of her currently preteen-sized palm with surprisingly almost no tarnishing or grime at all aside from some dirt. What was more intriguing to Artemis however, were the engravings of the necklace itself.

On one side, there was a complex maze pattern surrounding the kanji for 'Retribution', whilst the other had a faded design of a crescent moon with a howling wolf sitting in the inner circle.

"Oh cool," Popping up beside the Greek goddess, Naruto patted her on the back while grabbing the medallion part of the necklace and looking it over curiously before holding it up to her neckline. "Nice find Arty-nee, this would look great on you."

"I appreciate the praise," Artemis stated as she shook her arm free of the necklace's chain. "But I have no need for shiny baubles *Poof* _**Now let's get going."**_

' _Yeah, yeah, I'm going.'_ Naruto thought with a chuckle as he headed back towards the exit while idly stuffing the medallion into his pocket. As he stepped through the earthen tunnel and back into the main chamber, about midway up to be exact, the blonde quickly glanced around until he spotted Chui and Choji at the bottom level standing just outside the nursery.

The former had an amused yet exasperated expression on his face as he slowly shook his head whilst the latter was grinning as he cradled something in his arms.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" The blonde asked as he slid down to the sloped wall until he was right next to the pair, before his brow shot up into his hairline upon getting a good look at the thing in Choji's arms. "Is that a bunny with antlers?"

"Yep!" The big-boned boy said happily as he gently pet the critter, which was indeed a rabbit with fluffy dark red fur and a pair of short antlers sticking out of its noggin, as it nibbled on a large blade of grass. "Can you believe it? An actual Sumi Usagi! Shikamaru's are gonna be so psyched!"

"Uh… a Sumi-what now?" Naruto asked with a tilted head, causing Choji to abruptly stop his little happy dance.

"Ah right, you probably haven't heard about them before," He said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "They used to be really common around here but during the second Shinobi war they were almost hunted to extinction since their antlers have multiple medicinal properties, not to mention they made a great rabbit roast."

" **Typical humans, always plundering until there is nothing left."** Diana muttered with a frown.

' _Hey, I resent that!'_

" **I said typical humans Naruto, you are anything but typical."**

'… _I still can't tell if you're insulting or complimenting me.'_

" **Take it as you wish, I just state the truth."**

-Within the Seal-

"Hmm, so Jackalopes are actually a species within this world, how interesting." Artemis mused while rubbing her chin.

"Indeed," Diana agreed with a small nod even as a deep frown creased her lips. "It does make things a bit easier at least to keep what that thing really is, or rather whom it is, a secret. Though I still say we should have just killed her."

"That decision was neither of ours in the end Diana and you know it." Artemis said while giving her roman counterpart a firm look.

"I am well aware, doesn't mean a have to like it."

-And Back-

"Shika and my families has been trying to catch any of these guys for years but without much luck," Choji continued, snapping the blonde back to reality. "They developed an extreme wariness of humans so nobody could get much more than a glimpse of one before they'd bolt."

"Then how come this one seems so calm? And for that matter how'd you catch it?" Naruto asked while bending over to get a closer look at the red ball of fur.

"I've got no idea, and I didn't catch it, the wolves did just after they brought us all here." Choji admitted while petting the rabbit's head between the antlers.

" _We were intending to use it as a practice prey for the pups to get a taste of how to hunt, but this one was quite insistent on keeping it alive,"_ Chui stated. " _A waste if you ask me, those things are quite delicious, well worth the effort it takes to hunt one down."_

"Oi, don't think that just because I don't know what you're saying means I can't tell what you're thinking, you not eating Mochi." Choji said, giving the wolf the stink eye when he noticed him licking his chops though missing the deadpan look he got from Naruto at hearing the jackalope's name.

" _I know boy, you have made that abundantly clear."_ The canine said while rolling his eyes in mock exasperation.

"Congrats on the new pet then I guess," Naruto said with a shrug before idly glancing around. "Where's Ino by the way, I thought we agreed to meet back up in twenty minutes."

" _Ino-sama is in there,_ " Chui stated while jabbing his snout towards the nursery, a coughing laugh escaping from the wolf's lips. _"She said she wanted to see the pups for herself before you left."_

"Oh… oh crap," Naruto muttered, facepalming once he realized what the green canine was chuckling about. "I'll go get her."

Slipping through the somewhat narrow tunnel while ignoring Chui's laughter, the whiskered blonde's theory was immediately confirmed by the sight he was greeted with when he reached the other side.

"Hahahahaha! So much fluffy Kawaii!" Ino cheered as she lay on the ground, hugging a puppy that was laying across her chest while it along with many more playfully licked her face and/or snuggled up to her.

"Hey Ino, we got to get going, still have an exam to finish and all." Naruto called out while walking up to the literally dog-piled girl. Not getting any response, the whiskered boy rolled his eyes before reaching into the pile and grabbing Ino's ankle. "Come on Ino, it's time to go."

"Just ten more minutes! Fifteen tops!" Ino exclaimed while trying to pull her leg free to no avail as Naruto dragged her free of her fluffy confines.

" _Yeah! Let her play!"_

" _I wanna be pet more!"_

" _Play with me! Play with me!"_

" _No me! Me!"  
_

"I'm sorry guys but we really got to get going," Naruto said, petting the puppy still sitting on the girl's chest before gently nudging it off as he spoke to the horde of fluffballs that were quickly surrounding him. "You can play together next time, promise."

That seemed to do the trick as the pups backed off, albeit with pouts and sad whimpers of boredom.

' _Dammit… so adorable… must resist cuteness.'_ Naruto thought, his brow twitching as the literal sad puppy dog eye looks he was getting tore gouges out of his will.

 **"I've had enough of these theatrics."** Thankfully, before the blonde's resolve broke completely, his eyes turned a cold silver as Diana took control and marched out of the room. " _Let's go girl, my patience has expired."_

"Noooo!" Ino yelled dramatically, her fingers digging shallow trenches in the ground as she tried to stop herself from being dragged away, making the moon goddess roll her eyes.

" _I am surrounded by imbeciles."_

"Hey! Who are you calling an imbecile!?" Snapping out of her fluffy craze, Ino quickly got up to her feet and glared at the possessed teen.

" _Do you really want me to answer that?"_ Diana asked back with a coy smirk as they emerged at the main chamber, making the platinum blonde's eyebrow twitch in anger.

"Oh, you are just asking for a whooping Artemis, don't make me come in there and-"

" _I am not Artemis."_

"Pummel your… wait what?" Ino asked in bafflement, cutting herself off midsentence once her brain registered what Diana said. And she wasn't the only one confused as Choji blinked in confusion.

" _I said, my name is not Artemis,"_ The Roman goddess of the moon stated. "Since N _aruto forgot to introduce me I will do it myself, I am a new… resident within this boy's mind, the name is Diana, don't forget it or else you'll regret it."_ **'Ugh, great, I sounded like Apollo for a moment.'**

 _ **"Please don't ever do that again."**_

' _I thought it sounded kinda cool Diana-nee.'_ Naruto thought with a mental grin.

" **Whatever, get back out there already."** Diana muttered while Naruto stumbled and gripped his head as he was suddenly given back control.

"Jeez, why do I always end up with a fricking headache?" He groaned as his head throbbed briefly before managing to shake it off.

"I'm pretty sure you have more things to worry about than just headaches Naruto," Ino said uneasily as she looked at her teammate with concern. "When we get out of here, you are going straight to the doctor."

"Yeah, I think you might have hit your head a bit harder than you thought." Choji agreed with a short nod.

"Come on Ino-chan, I'm fine," The whiskered blonde said dismissively with a wave of his hand. "So I have another person living inside my head, it's not that big a deal."

…

"…I don't even know where to begin with how wrong that was," Ino muttered while massaging the side of her head. "Let's just go before I start hearing voices too."

"Aw you sure about that Ino-chan? It can be some pretty nice company-Ttebayo," Naruto said jokingly, earning a dry half amused look from his fellow blonde before he turned towards Chui. "Do you know anyone who could take us to the tower in the middle of the forest?"

 _"Of course, in fact one of our hunting trails leads almost right to that place,"_ Chui said with a nod. " _However, that path is not exactly meant for your kind in mind, so to efficiently use it we'd have to do something a bit… unconventional, if that's alright with you Naruto-sama."_

"Unconventional how exactly?" The whiskered blonde asked with a raised brow, getting a wolfy smile in response.

-Fifteen minutes Later-

' _THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME-TTEBAYO!'_ Naruto screamed mentally with a massive grin on his face while riding on the back of a red and grey furred wolf as the canine zipped through the Forest of Death at high speed.

With ease only attainable through years of experience, the blonde's ride effortlessly traversed the rapidly changing terrain, going from sprinting on the ground to leaping through the tree-line to even hopping across small islands to cross over rivers and swampy areas with barely even a pause.

"Whaaa!" Ino yelped as she clung tightly to Chui's back while he leapt over a huge decaying log, a mixture of pure excitement and mild terror all over her face. Meanwhile, at the back of the group, poor Choji was starting to look a bit green on the large grey wolf he was riding, Mochi held tightly in his arms.

 **"** _ **Stop with the screaming already!"**_ Artemis yelled back at the blonde irritably, making him cringe slightly as the shout reverted in his skull.

' _Sorry Arty-nee, it's just-'_

 **"Yeah, we get it, just keep it to yourself."**

' _Uh… how? You gals are literally in my thoughts.'_

 _…_

 **"…Oh look, we're here."** Diana stated suddenly, snapping the blonde's attention back to reality just as the wolves came skidding to a halt at the entrance of the tower.

"Huh, that was fast," Naruto muttered aloud as he dismounted the wolf and gave it an appreciative scratch on the head. "Thanks for the ride Jinsoku."

" _It was my pleasure Alpha-sama."_ The now named Jinsoku said in a soft feminine tone, leaning into the petting with a happy sigh while the blonde turned to his teammates and sweat-dropping almost immediately.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Uuuuuh… I'll tell you when my insides stop trying to become my outsides." Choji groaned weakly, laying on the ground in misery with a hand cupped over his lips while the wolf he'd been riding chuckled.

" _I told you that one last leg of boar would come back to haunt you pup."_ The large grey canine said with a shake of his head.

"Quit laughing at me you furball, uuuugh."

"Ha… ha… that was so freaking cool," Ino gasped out with a big grin on her lips, her whole body trembling from adrenaline as she tried to climb off Chui, only to end up almost collapsing until the green canine caught her by the scruff of the neck and set her back onto his back. "Thanks Chui, I'll just stay here… enjoy the fluffy just a bit longer."

" _If that is you wish Ino-sama."_ Chui said, not at all bothered as the blonde girl snuggled against his back with a content sigh, in fact he was looking quite happy at the development.

' _Man, Chui really seems to like Ino.'_ Naruto thought as he watched the large canine dote on his teammate, like a dog wanting to please its owner.

 _ **"Indeed, if I didn't know better I'd say he was smitten."**_ Artemis stated amusedly while Naruto chuckled under his breath.

 **"Crude humor aside, it would seem he sees the girl as a second alpha for some reason,"** Diana said with a slight edge of confusion in her tone. **"Though what that reason is beyond me."**

 _'Maybe he just likes blondes.'_ Naruto suggested jokingly before shaking his head and switching his attention back to the wolf still at his side. "Be careful on the way back, another team could be by at any time and I don't want you to get hurt by some over-eager idiots."

" _Don't worry Alpha-sama, me and Fudo can take care of ourselves,"_ Jinsoku said, nuzzling the whiskered blonde's cheek affectionally before she and the grey wolf started to leave. " _You take of yourself as well, oh and make sure to keep an eye on the pup while you're at it."_

"…The pup?" Naruto repeated questioningly with his head tilted in confusion, which only grew as the pair of canines laughed in sync before Fudo started to speak.

" _It'll make sense right about-"_

" _WAIT FOR ME!" *Thump* "_ Ooof!"

" _…Now."_ Jinsoku finished with a grin as a yellow blur rocketed out of the tree line and crashed right into the whiskered boy's gut, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Uuuuuugh," Groaning in pain, Naruto shook his head a bit to clear the cobwebs in his thoughts. "What hit me?"

 **"Another headache."** Diana muttered dully as the blonde's vision cleared enough to let him see a familiar golden pup sitting on his chest.

" _Hi Naruto-sama!"_ Liru said energetically despite panting heavily as her tail wagged like crazy. " _Why'd you leave so soon? I wanted to play with you! Can I? Can I? I know so many fun games! Oh, or do you have any stories to tell me? I love stories!"_

The young wolf continued to spew out questions and statements at high speed, not leaving Naruto any time to answer or respond at all. Not knowing what to do, the blonde glanced towards Jinsoku and Fudo for help, only to swiftly end up deadpanning when he found both of them conveniently missing from the scene.

' _Does anyone else have the feeling this ain't the first time this has happened?'_

 **"** _ **I believe the appropriate expression for that question is 'No Shit Sherlock**_ **."**

Rolling his eyes in amusement at Artemis's snippy remark, Naruto didn't bother to respond as he grabbed Liru and stood up, making the young wolf yip in surprise from the sudden shift.

"Hello Liru-chan, decided to tag along did we?" He asked rhetorically as he held the pup with almost no effort despite her being a little over half his size.

" _Yep! I wanna hang out with Naruto-sama more! So here I am!"_ Said pup said with a grin while licking the boy's cheek.

"Well since you're already here I'll let you stay, but you better stay on your best behavior." Naruto said with a slightly stern look.

Barking happily, the little wolf began licking the boy's face repeatedly. " _Yay! Yay! Thank you!"_

"Whoa, easy there, calm down you rascal," The whiskered blonde said while setting Liru down and wiping the slobber off his face before turning his attention back to his teammates. "Come on guys, enough lounging around, we still got an exam to finish-Ttebayo."

"I think I'm-urp- good to go now." Choji burped out, his face having gained back most of its normal color.

"Me too, let's do this." Ino said as she hopped off Chui's back, having recovered from her adrenaline rush enough to stand on her own again, though that didn't stop the green wolf from hovering around her protectively.

" _Alpha-sama, I request that I-"_

"Yes Chui, you can come along too." Naruto cut in with a nod, getting an appreciative nod from the canine.

And with that, the rather unusual group finally stepped into the tower, though in the process none of them noticed the emerald eyes watching them intently from the shadows.

' _Have we found you at last?'_

-Within the Tower-

"If qualities of *blank* are your desire acquire wisdom to take your mind higher, if *Blank* qualities are what you lack train your body and prepare to attack. When *Blank* and *Blank* are open together the perilous path will become righteous forever this is the secret way that guides us from this place today. Oh wonderful, a riddle." Naruto said sarcastically after reading the inscription written on the wall of the large chamber he and his team found themselves within.

"At least its pretty straightforward, two comparisons, two things opened, I'm pretty sure it's telling us to open up our Heaven and Earth scrolls." Choji said with a thoughtful expression as he rubbed Mochi's back.

"It would make sense, Anko said we needed both scrolls to pass so they must act like some kind of key or something to get through here." Ino agreed while the chubby boy fished out said scrolls from his kunai pouch, giving Ino the Heaven one and Naruto the Earth one.

Glancing at each-other for a moment, the blonde duo unrolled their scrolls at the same time.

*Hiss* "Kuso! They're boobytrapped!" Naruto yelled as he and Ino quickly tossed their scrolls across the room, unintentionally layering them over each-other in the process, and backing away when they started giving off smoke.

*Poof* Tensing up as a large cloud of smoke burst forth from the scrolls, the whole group got in defensive positions, with Naruto moving to stand protectively in front of Liru, Choji tucking Mochi under his armpit, and Chui curled around Ino with a snarl, all of them ready for anything…

"Ta-da!" "Va-va!" Only to be met with Anko and Teisho posing dramatically, the latter sitting on the formers head holding a paper banner with 'Congratulations' crudely written in crayon.

"Hey gakis! Glad to see you made… it…" Anko started to say, only to trail off when she noticed Chui when he growled threateningly at her. Her eyebrow rising slightly, the purplette's gaze swept across the room thoroughly and was quick to note Liru and Mochi's half-hidden forms as well. "Well, looks like somebody's made some new buddies."

"You wouldn't know the half of it," Naruto sighed, calming down almost instantly once he saw who it was, waving towards the green wolf to back down as he walked up to the new arrivals. As soon as he got close, Teisho leapt off Anko's head and into the blonde's arms, looking almost like she flew there as her wings fluttered wildly. "Hello Teisho-chan."

Smiling as the little lamia hugged his chest, Naruto returned the favor along with ruffling her hair before gently placing her atop his head where she promptly curled up with a happy hum. However, once that was done, the blonde's mood did a sudden one-eighty as his lips curled into a frown. "Anko, I know this is probably against the rules but I need to see Jiji right away. There's something important I need to talk to him about, now."

"Oh, is that so?" The scantily-clad kunoichi asked seriously, unnerving both Ino and Choji a bit as all traces of her normal teasing demeanor seemed to just vanish. "Would this happen to be about that large chakra surge two nights ago?"

Nodding again, Naruto didn't bother responding verbally this time as he lifted the front of his shirt up to reveal his stomach, which bore a faint outline of the seal Tayuya had used now seared onto his flesh.

That was all Anko needed to see though as she immediately pressed a finger against her ear, or more specifically the small radio in her ear. "This is Anko, get the Hokage to training ground 44 immediately for a code Kyu."

-End Chapter-

Translations:

Jinsoku/Swift

Fudo/Steadfast

Kyu/Nine

AN: Mostly filler this time, but next chapter things will really start heating up. Thanks for reading and please review.


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